Two Esplanade Poems

Esplanade Eternal Return Octet

the sparrow has left the Atlas cedar to find

a place even more ragged to sing: brambles

trailing down to the flotsam & jetsam swirl—

spiral walkway, its columns dressed in ivy,

people ascending two-by-two follow its

repeating curve into undecided sky—

between the Morrison & the Hawthorne, eight

floating seagulls signify infinity

◦           ◦            ◦

Esplanade Metempsychosis Octet

weeping willows, side-by-side with chartreuse braids,

why so sad? that crow who perched in the cedar

flies straight over your boughs past Hawthorne bridge, the

daffodils swell, the dandelion smiles its

innocent smile above brown dirt, four water

fountains bubble over into brass basins;

if red oak’s leftover leaves are spent cocoons,

look! the plum petals spawning as butterflies

Jack Hayes

© 2017