Two More Octets from North Portland

beech st octet

empty pint of Jack Daniels in a leaf pile;
holiday ornaments dangle from a bare

sapling, its branches pruned—white Adirondack
chair amongst tipped tomato cages & raised

beds gone to weeds—five orange cones, two pavers,
one brick weigh down a torn blue tarp; stepladder

leans off kilter in the rock garden next to
curved pale driftwood: there’s no other sign of you


◦    ◦    ◦


williams ave octet #2


sky level gray: incense ashes tamped & smoothed
at day’s end, though it’s morning; in a pewter

dish through a plate glass window plastic pears with
green apples; by stone steps, rose hips overlaid

in raindrops; abutilon curbside mirrors
such delicate teardrops in living color—

ever accepting what’s offered: chill drizzle
replicates this raw weather filling my chest



Jack Hayes
© 2016



11/22/16 & 11/23/16