Excerpts From Nonexistent Books

It’s in the brambles that one must look
Between bland manicured greens
Nature surviving in the nooks
Living amid the in-betweens

It’s not the fittest that thrive
In these man-altered zones
Those who stay alive
And make the cracks their own

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It lays there, solid steel warmed by midday asphalt
A holy ring of solid steel, malefactor gripped tight
The short claw of the law, flight an impossibility
It feels like there should be some empathy
For the poor stranded vehicle, chained unwillingly
But seeing the bleached-tooth gleam of that SUV
Its fraternity parking pass flaunted on the dash
Out of state Texas plates loud, proud
Knowing that this may be the one, the only
Situation they can’t weasel out of
In their young lives lived on cruise control
The only response is a smug smile
And a “give ’em hell, meter maid.”

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A thousand people crowd this land
Beneath edifices proud and grand
But though they dwell there row by row
The land contains not a single soul
Where am I?

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Unprecedented, they called it, freshman year, as we watched rising smoke with rapt intensity
Unprecedented, the word on everyone’s lips, the squeal of brakes on money gone mad
Unprecedented, and an upset to boot, they said again, as if dictating into a history book
Unprecedented, chained to the house while the world struggles to breathe
Unprecedented, both in number and scope, people spilling out in the streets
Unprecedented, that any of it could have been predicted if cooler heads had prevailed

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Grass, fresh-cut, by the neighbors
Birdsong sweet in the ear
Showers of seeds at the feeder
Sheltering boughs are near

A sky both warm and friendly
Birds on the wing flutter by
Flowers abuzz with activity
Light dapples as sunset is nigh

I watch it all from my window
Setting sun and ebbing of light
Feelings asleep are enkindled
As the new crops of spring arise

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To say we were impressed would be an understatement
It was a resume for the ages
Years of experience in a relevant field
A local, able to start immediately
Testimonials? Glowing, every one
Able to crunch vast fields of data
In a single Excel sheet
If we hadn’t seen them for ourselves
Their easy confidence palpable
Even over Zoom
We wouldn’t have believed it possible
We politely thanked the others
Rejection letters sent out
This mythical person was set to onboard
Until they sheepishly admitted
They’d been interviewing elsewhere
The whole time
And we were their second choice

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We humans like binaries
Black hat, white hat
Sinner or saint
It’s tough to process
That someone can be both
Oppressor
And
Oppressed
Victim
And
Victimizer
Deserving of justice
Dealt in judgment
But also of justice
Restorative

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Soil liquified under the deluge of three days
Grand old trees litter the landscape, top-heavy
Pulled down by the weight laid upon them
Ground to dust and leaving gaping holes
I really hope, against all hope
That they are not metaphors

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Amid the rains that have been unusually heavy this year
Blossoming forth from an invisible network beneath the yard
Decay personified, but dedicated to spreading new life
Its long red tubules rise, alien, seemingly spontaneous
I ought to be in awe of it, evolved to spread spores on the wings of flies
But looking at its limp red tubular shape
Reading the name on my naturalist app
I can’t help but giggle like a locker room teen
Is it just me
Or does its name
“The devil’s dipstick”
Sound like something
A prudish old woman
Would say, horrified
At the thought of a man

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The day dawned cloudy, stormy
Vivid patches of blue between angry, weeping clouds
Three hours later and it would have been invisible
But when the eclipse came, shedding the dappled light
Of an imperfectly covered celestial orb
(Because who has the time, money for eclipse tourism)
There was just enough cerulean, just enough light
That the neighborhood, looking skyward with glasses opaque
Could glimpse, fleetingly, through the clouds
A sliver of sunshine

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