The weather is cooler — a little bit. The decorations are going up and football season is in full swing. But what are the other tell-tale signs of a Texas autumn? That was the inspiration for this Typewriter Rodeo poem.
Autumn In Texas (for Cornell)
pumpkin sits baking
on the front porch step
smells like pie
you want to taste
cool, crisp air
but instead the air tastes you
with its tongue
of warm, thick slobber
the scent of distant woodsmoke
fails to charm
it could still, all too easily
be a wildfire
out of control
in other places
people are talking about
sweater weather
here, we just sweat
i see a single forlorn witch
hanging in effigy from a tree branch
and drooping
and i say:
witch, i feel you
what do you say we hop on that broom
and fly north
beat the springtime rush
but she doesn’t answer
there’s nothing to say
when you’re waiting for the fall
Typewriter Rodeo airs each Friday on Texas Standard. Send us your ideas for a poem on 
