Sand Hill Review

First published in Sand Hill Review, 2003, pages 30 and 31. See also “Snake” and “The Clarinet,” also published in the same issue.

construction site

nose stain

beneath the knothole

between beats—

the brief shadow

of the conductor’s baton

yard-sale Sunday—

neighbours buying

each other’s junk

on the bottom shelf,

the book about

chiropractics

cathedral bells . . .

the chestnut vendor’s

steaming cart

home on Christmas Eve—

the street-corner santa

unbuttons his shirt

flying for a moment

in the spring air

the squealing baby

inner-city playground

guywires

on the fresh sapling

dissipating mist—

a man with a red gas can

walking the freeway