In such a good-looking encore!

A cardinal, as long as it likes, stays,

Clutching the branch of a naked waking tree

As I sit on the whisky-tango bench

Near my bike it greets a robin

Pecking to nest with sprouts of green lawn

Before soon it is cut down with

The dreaded hum of mowers

Ritually disturbing strangers

jaded version natures

 

if I could paint the container train over the waters

with waves of vibrations shaking trestles

spans the gaps with arthritic bridges

strangling towns, confusing strangers

when through the steep Ohio banks

in sails a bald-headed eagle

streaking across the swirling sky

floating on the Ohio’s springs thermals

as the flag they’re stamped on bleeds

wearing khaki feathers round its crown  

see the ridge top homes of stone

hear the lonesome whistles moan

a curfew siren randomly screams

randomly disturbing my dreams

in the upstream cracker plant’s unearthly glow

as nearby stalks of yellow flowers blossom

stand tall as if to say I have not been forgotten

that no one’s been hurt, they holler,

be it reason, escape, or default I am here

in breathless air of gorgeous wind

in Alleghany hills, up eroded shores

a scampering robin does its chores

in such a good-looking encore!

 

April 13, 2022