Two More North Portland Octets

mississippi ave octet #3


from its black pot the japanese maple can
touch maize-yellow clapboards; solace in contact—

couples chat in the creperie under globe
lights; the plate glass with its signage mutes their words—

on a garden fence strung with cone lights a pale
rhododendron blossom shrinks into itself—

spring’s distant in either direction: no one
waiting at the bus stop, not even myself


◦    ◦    ◦


vancouver ave octet #3

white iron bed frame leaning in rain against
ivy tumbling on the far side of the gate—

above stacked railroad ties clematis & grape
vines laced with spider webs drape laden pickets—

scarlet runner bean’s elegant tangle on
a fence constructed of pallets, green on gray—

purple ladder propped up against a light pole;
sunflower seed heads droop black, unsupported


Jack Hayes
© 2016



11/26/16 & 11/28/16