Alberto Ríos: "A Yellow Leaf"

 
A yellow leaf in the branches
Of a shamel ash
In the front yard;
I see it, a yellow leaf
Among so many.
Nothing distinguishes it,
Nothing striking, striped, stripped,
Strident, nothing
More than its yellow
On this day,
Which is enough, which makes me
Think of it later in the day,
Remember it in conversation
With a friend,
Though I do not mention it—
A yellow leaf on a shamel ash
On a clear day
In an Arizona winter,
A January like so many.

"A Yellow Leaf" by Alberto Ríos, from The Smallest Muscle in the Human Body (Copper Canyon Press, 2002). Text as published on American Life in Poetry.

Art credit: Unable to locate an image I liked of a yellow shamel ash leaf, I decided to use this untitled green ash leaf by an unknown photographer. The two varieties of leaves are very similar in appearance.