Last night finding
Jupiter with the telescope
its variable moons
like hesitations,
state a thing
and the assumption
is it is just what
was said–
No. What else is behind
the bright bold object?
Quails in the tall grass
a plume of dust when they alight
late heat and altocumulus
the changing of hours
kicks up a breeze
two hawks pass high
in a straight line
did the sky move
or did I?
Question the vector
Arcturus again
nights in the city
a bus sighs, idling,
sounds of passage,
low tide traffic
and the distant warmth
of disembodied lights
from a great enough distance
things become clear
a deserted rooftop
everything coursing below
and it isn’t lonely at all, somehow
Preamble, indictment,
denunciation–
grievance is our provenance
civic incivility
nobody better take it easy
because it never has been
spooked by a shadow
the sun came out slowly
low voices speaking
behind a closed door
cautiously, sequestered, measured–
oh look at the hour
it stays light out
so late now
you forget how late
it really is
the grass outside
the federal detention center
dry and sharp and hollow
as a hypodermic needle
doctors in lab coats
cloud-bright
under overcast skies
carrying placards
two uniforms on the roof
watchful, but less
like eyes
than the windows below
narrow opaque
the wall’s blank face
and those behind it–
On the metro,
each stop, more,
compressing into the car
held soley in place
by curved backs and bellies
and angular shoulders
one large body of bodies
hurtling down the track
toward a common goal
a rush of blood into
a freshly opened wound
today’s word is unhinged
no smooth swing
the door is open
or blocked
but that’s not
what they meant
meaning
a tacit agreement
apparently
implication
impermeability
cast the first stone
and ripple effect
impermenance
I said once
fallacy
stet
a half-truth is true
partially
check the partiality
formulate the response
and reach back
hurl at plate glass
fourth wall and fourth estate
land a blow
and deflect blowback
not a defect by design
blood thicker
than water
and maybe also ink
eerie tinge
to this sunset
cold and diluted
a misplaced day
say six pm
in mid October
it was summer
a chill sets in
the lights go off
and on in the office tower
golden bands
the crane’s open elevator
making one last run
up the construction site
even from here
it’s clearly not tethered
With civility
but forcefully
an unforecast
downpour
weather systems,
augury, mandala–
return to the theme
dowse in the flood
tattoo rain on the roof
riverbank, seawall,
all constructs–
a boundary
is only as good
as it is
hold still
the x-ray tech
said taping
a metal ball
to my skin
to mark the pain
to show what the human
eye can’t see
whole spectrums !
what hubris
to say animal
tongue slick
with contempt
as if any better
as if a predator
we fail from within
our teeth blunted
when we need them most
even sunnier
finally a day
without construction
birdsong even
in the slight
morning breeze
and the burbling
of distant
indistinct conversation
non-threatening
some man singing
and well
the sky pressed
blue paper
a formal invitation
we graciously request
your presence
the gingko mumurs in assent
OPTIONAL POETRY 