Jul/Aug 2008 spotlight |
Successions
I inhale
fall in burnt leaves
I conceive fall
in the children upstairs
as they build an aquarium for
their snake FlashThomas holds up the net bag
against amber twilight—
a shade with an arrow-shaped head
darts toward me Studentssling their backpacks over
their shoulders At the store
mounds of apples—crunch—
bags of new potatoes
(The others aren't?)I want
to burrow into a hill of crimson leaves
I hunger
for pinto beans
the smell of barley As I digin my blue cardboard box of
wool sweaters, I drown
in the mothball smell
But I live in OaklandIt's August
The fog will draw back
the sun reappear
In February the grass will be greenI moved here from Texas
I tunneled a hole through dirt
as a child digs for China
in the sandbox As dirtbecame sand, finely ground, then thickened to
dehydrated brown-black clods, I traced
an impression of my silhouette—
eyebrows groping toward
the flat nose From outside ineucalyptus trees shed their bark
reveal an inner layer of skin