Two Early April Octets

Mythological Fremont St Octet

(4/7/17)

evening sky draining off blue making space

for night & the moon as it grows, now floating

amidst gray clouds, wings of big mythical birds,

themselves transmuted from fish in an unseen

river connected somehow to this cross-hatch

of power lines & a corrugated roof

as dark magnolia grandiflora leaves

reach as far as they reach into fading air

◦           ◦            ◦

Early Morning Mississippi Ave Octet

(4/8/17)

one crow at the linden’s pinnacle watches

clouds under full sail across a lake of white

light & blue spectrum scattering, north & north

again—two crabapples’ maroon parasols

open in an unsure daybreak, foliage

on the one hawthorn tentative, five tulips

hold their scarlet hands tight as the crow takes off:

people in black hoodies dozing on the bus

Jack Hayes

© 2017