Mark Perlberg

Mark Perlberg (1929-2008) was a poet, journalist, editor, and educator. In 1968, he co-founded the Poetry Center of Chicago. Born in Palisade, New Jersey. In 1950, he graduated from Hobart College with a degree in English Literature. While taking graduate courses at Columbia University in 1952, he was called to serve in the Korean War. Once discharged from the service he  began his career as a journalist with Time Magazine, relocating to Chicago in 1956. He later worked for Encyclopaedia Britannica, World Book Encyclopedia, and Prism. He published 5 collections of poems.

Happy All Hallows Eve, Halloween or Samhain, the festival to mark the end of summer and the beginning of winter.

Toward the Solstice

We burned our leaves on the bluest October day,

the sun still warm on our backs,

frost just a ghost in the shrubbery.

We raked the leaves into shifting piles on the lawn,

scooped them into deep round baskets

and spilled them in the street against the curb.

The vein of fire, unseen at first in diamond light,

whispered through oak leaves brown as butcher paper,

and maple still flushed with color like maps

torn from The Book of Knowledge.

We were letting go of October, relinquishing color,

readying ourselves for streets lacquered with ice,

the town closed like a walnut, locked inside the cold.

— Mark Perlberg