Autumn

I misplaced my desire

like I do every year.

It must have dropped

amongst the fallen ginkgos

on a long-gone morning

gold walk to work.

In a few months I’ll spot it

in the black snow

speckled along

a narrow window planter

leaving it be

until the winter sparrow is too warm to sing.

John Salimbene is a writer and editor based in New Jersey. He is the poetry editor for Tint Journal and currently earning his MFA in creative writing at William Paterson University, where he also serves as an editorial assistant for Map Literary. His poems can be found in the 2020 anthology, queerbook, by Philly AIDS Thrift @ Giovanni’s Room, as well as Voicemail Poems and elsewhere.