The first all-day rainy day calls for
donning the plum rain boots

as you head out for afternoon errands,
reminding yourself how to drive

on slick streets, to come to careful
and complete stops before proceeding.

Though you have things to do, you are
drawn to the edge of a parking lot

where the Chinese pistache trees
model the year’s most brilliant colors

while beginning to discard some of
what has clothed them since spring

in a mosaic of slick color at the curb.
Of course, you have to take a photograph

of this rich palette of loveliness—then
another and another. No wonder you

linger under these gently dripping trees
that punctually deliver this seasonal

fashion show before dropping everything
to stand proud and bare and tall

all winter long.