in oklahoma,
dusty fields, where a kernel can't grow,
bury a farmer's hopes.

in new york,
a steno flips the page of her pad,
stocking-legged, and loose-moraled.

in southeast asia,
a viet namese family squat-walks,
planting the year's rice harvest.

in l.a.,
a heroin user pushes his money
through the hole in his arm.

in the small towns,
a puppy yaps at a toe-heads' heels,
as norman rockwell lives in old folks memories.

everywhere,
a glittering silver handgun swoons and swoops
a young boy in a web of wonder.

a human comedy in tragic, living [and dying] color,
ever to be lived and repeated.

08/22/2005