Old Woman’s Lament in Autumn

For WCW

Sorrow is my corner store
where jack-o’-lantern balloons
get high on the last helium.

The endcap is gold today
with numbered bags
of Werther’s Original.

No one is Werther.

Last night a newscaster
mentioned an “elderly victim.”
Don’t call me that.

I’m old
and obdurate.