Sunday papers on the sunporch
With our quiet broken only by
Some mockingbird on speed, and
The distant sound of an ambitious
Neighbor starting his lawn mower.
Now I'll have to mow today too.
I read about the White Sox,
(Pitching pays off in this game)
She does the crossword.
Out of the corner of my eye
I see the groundhog in the field
That borders our back yard
He stands on back legs, frozen,
Fat, ready to eat all day, but first
Must watch for predators that
Haven't been here for a hundred years.
The city won't let anyone bother them,
And we are overrun.
This same city has us all riled
About the proposed re-zoning too.
It would put a gas station
At the edge of our subdivision.
Properly values could be effected.
We're not sure, but we aren't
About to just let it happen.
We'll be at City Hall Tuesday.
It's all in the papers.
I need to move, I think.
Out the sliding glass door and
Onto the deck, the humidity hits me
Hard. It's going to be merciless today.
Stretching now, looking up I see a
Large bird; far, far away though.
Flying east, just below today's sun.
I shade my eyes, and wonder what kind?
So big, and sailing up so high...
And fading into blue sky...
...Away and away over ocean, then land
Of ancient kingdoms by Africans built,
Where a boy from here now walks in sand
And today will die, and all the guilt
And grief will melt away...
In Iraq, 5 dead today.
