Unions and intersections, the tales of travelers in Venn
Diagrams: ancient the hospital suburbs concerned with
Grass whacking and shrub drubbing—the judgment of the collective ;
The machines of order on parade : lawnmowers and leafblowers,
The wasted water for a pristine spread of herd fodder :
The stage for regimented hedgerows and orderly flowers,
On the right: yard monitors report vegetation amuck
Where a cadre of metazoans, including a puma,
Stealthily slid through the branches and blades of overgrowth ;
On the left: a plethora of vehicles parked all about ;
The little yapping dogs that escape, and the blue–tick hound
Easily agitated, yodels into the black night .
On Wodensday, the trash man claw-lifts the receptacle
And slams it back down out of place on the street ; various
Articles of refuse wriggle free and flap to other yards;
The Eeyorish mailman forlorn, ever-frowning, looks up
And sighs in frustration and disbelief: another book
Must be door–delivered—no one can possibly read this much !
The various octogenarians ceremonial
In daily constitutions—the reaper skipping behind,
Whistling the uplifting theme from The Andy Griffith Show ;
The old guy on the bicycle ; the one that runs ; two or three
Michelinmorphs; some middle–agers but never the young
Huffing under the sun, they have all the time in the world ;
Four people walk dogs that excrete on the grassy median
Sometimes becoming a minefield explosive with ground–bees
Swarming in the swelter, the little clay nests like anthills .
Daily a grandfather putters, landscaping in slow–motion,
Staying busy consistently, continuously
: Don’t even think about sitting in the rocking–chair .
Frogs and geckos on night screens wait for chance bug encounters
; An occasional vehicle creeps along on the split court
Stopping nowhere near a traffic sign : a mystery .
*[ WSB ].
Occupation : Poet . 