poem 309 of a poem a day for 2012

the tyranny of ice cream trucks

serenade me with closed shades

and the hushed velvet

I wrap myself with today

with drawn curtained quiet raining

let me explain

the first day of school

as something other than

a selfish wonderful

and all I would be doing

is thumbing through

the dictionary for ways

to lie to you about it

no getting around

the peace of September

with its odd tropical reaches

and the tannin deaths of leaves

breaching the cool cling of moisture

along the burning and bleeding

heavy yellowed skin tufting itself

under the lengthening nights

no I don’t mind saying

yes it’s quiet now

and the katydids

have lowered themselves

from the tops of trees

and into the seed-headed rapture

of the tall grass weeping

in a steep luxuriously slow decline

these insects know

to bow the orchestral clock of wind

for the great wheel’s turn

at the entirety of the southern edges

of the northern forests

is emptying its souls

in order to dye itself

in the color of wombs again

deep dark lust

wanting roots

dreaming in thin fiber strengths

and the very thought

of being inside someone

willing their bones

into the electricity

we will mine the keys with strings

and all the intricate carves

that gravity rings out

in a swollen belly repose

steaming the kitchen windows

with something bubbling

and spitting on the hearth

EJR ©