‘Autumn in Pennsylvania in 2023’: A Poem by Jeff Kemper

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Autumn in Pennsylvania in 2023

In response to Susan Jarvis Bryant’s
poem on “Autumn in Texas”

If Autumn is a bummer down in Texas,
Up north it casts forth some contrasting hexes.

Fall has befallen us in Bill Penn’s Woods
We feel the reel of summer’s passing goods
Run low when mornings usher in the Cool.
Anxiety is quietly in full

Swing like a host of ghosts encircling round
My cozy state. Each morning I am found
In mourning, in the scorning chill I hate:
The quiet thrill of demons bearing freight.

Their steady diet of the chill will fill
The Autumn air and kill the bugs and shill
The wrath of Winter with nice colors—all
But green! Such is the fateful funk of Fall.

I would debunk it, if I could, for good,
Or flush the season down the flusher! Would
I then be satisfied? I’d not. The bride
Of Satan—Winter—still would then betide

My less than cozy Pennsylvania state,
Imposing frozen noses and a spate
Of cold and dark and dank and dismal fare
Forever—until Spring repairs the air.

Except this year my team plays in the Fall:
Baseball, it seems, redeems Fall’s protocol.

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Jeff Kemper has been a biology teacher, biblical studies instructor, editor, and painting contractor. He lives in York County, Pennsylvania.