14 august

deviation from explanation -- an expectation of calm amid calamity -- the time the trees tell when the breeze smells of seasons beyond our calendar -- the way the words work when the pages jerk from our hands from the newspaper stands like some headlines paying high fines for low crimes and cheap rhymes because no time like the present tense is peaceful enough for keeping -- sleeping cellars never keep watched and lying tigers never stay locked with one eye open and a mighty fine gal -- sixteen years on the Erie canal is shallow enough to float in when the sink swims to the shore -- when the band cries out for more but the people can't remember the tune -- when the size and the shape of the moon are piano keys and a calamine solution -- cigarettes and sharp regrets to break the ice before its freeze