the fullness of trees keeps me from stripping.

I'd unbutton for every fall but buttons
don't grow back as leaves do, leaves
have veins & buttons holes, leaves
hold dew like life swaddles touch, buttons
have to let it all pass through.

if my fingers were made
in dreams, they'd be a jetty into the air, calling
little boats nodding in their own shadows,
to dock, but they are not. on some days

I feel my not-stripping is what keeps the trees
full & it is in your hands to cause autumn.

~Ajay
4/9/19