A Riff on Fall
A poem by Judith Waller Carroll

A Riff on Fall

As in take the fall, fall between.
Fall by the wayside.

Fall into place. Fall in love.
Fall in line.

Fall into the wrong hands
Fall flat. Fall apart.

Fall as in the sound of the thud
last night when you took a misstep

on your way to the bathroom,
just missing my bedside table

and landing with only a lurid bruise,
all bones intact,

both of us grateful to wake up to this crisp
fall morning, the air scented with wood smoke,

one red-veined gold leaf after another
falling to the ground.

About the Author:

Judith Waller Carroll’s poems have been featured on Verse Daily and The Writer’s Almanac, published in numerous journals and anthologies, and nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. She is the author of two collections of poetry, Ordinary Splendor (MoonPath Press 2022) and What You Saw and Still Remember, a runner-up for the 2017 Main Street Rag Poetry Award. Her chapbook The Consolation of Roses, won the 2015 Astounding Beauty Ruffian Press Poetry Prize.

Poetry Breakfast is an online journal publishing poetry and short plays.
If you’d like your poems considered for publication visit our Poetry Submissions page.

Follow Poetry Breakfast
Facebook & Instagram