End of Summer
The cardinal is molting. Streaks of gray
muddy his scarlet body and bright wings.
He huddles, mute and mortified. Today
the doe who broke her right front leg last spring
limps by with two small fawns. Another year
is overripe. Above, wild geese are flying,
honking their expat anthems: gone, but here,
still here, still here. My mother is still dying.
Susan McLean, emerita professor of English at Southwest Minnesota State University, has published two books of poetry, The Best Disguise and The Whetstone Misses the Knife, and one book of translations of the Latin poet Martial, Selected Epigrams. Her third poetry collection, Daylight Losing Time, will be published by Able Muse Press in 2023.