"Flowers bloom in spring wind. They never refuse.
And trees never resent leaf-fall in autumn skies."
       – Li Po, from "Sunlight Chant"










Scenes from an Interstate


A hidden river flows through the city
in a rush to move through the noise

we stand at a small bridge graffitied
by images of sunshine and community

the valley here holds windowless buildings
like gravestones on beige hillocks

so bare in springtime that the marsh
reeds rustle as loud as the passing traffic

she says the wild salmon will soon run
few others will stand here in the sun

as they swim up the brown shallow river
from Lake Michigan bright as pink glass

nearby cars will descend onto ten parking lots
for a game with a dome that closes