Interstate Ave Celestial Terrestrial Double Octet

(6/2/17)

water tower rises west, green oval sun

in the wrong quadrant; seen through a barred window

the model train at rest, the trestle crosses

painted water empty; its boughs a veil that

weeping birch turned Mater Dolorosa shades

the convenience store; the man in his sky blue

jersey in the motel parking lot sweeps pink

rhododendron petals into a dustpan

◦

six white birches stand upright in white morning,

last month’s catkins dried against the pull box lid;

clover froths up from the parking strip; the train’s

bell rings in a time signature I can’t count,

its passengers facing both north & south; just

one maple it passes is wrapped in unlit

lights; water tower rises next to the firehouse:

round green sun in stasis in the eastern sky

Jack Hayes

© 2017