Two Octets from Sandy Blvd

Poetics on Sandy Blvd Octet

(4/7/17)

three star magnolias down to their last blooms,

the alphabet of a poem brief as day—

three ginkgos express themselves in new leaves,

these green words sprouting monosyllabic on

the tongue, all the crucial words from that poem—

this is my heart, here in the wind & the sun

that shows its face, gets lost in those fast gray clouds:

images merged in the mind of this instant

◦           ◦            ◦

Rest & Motion on Sandy Blvd Octet

(4/7/17)

a single yellow rose for a last goodbye

painted across an amaranth stucco wall,

static; but the crow launches from the wire past

ash trees moved by the wind; one red one yellow

balloon strain on their ribbon, twist in circles

swooping around the power pole—I’m waiting

for the walk light, watch saucer magnolias

shed their big petals behind the chain link fence

Jack Hayes

© 2017