bayou time
I.
aspirations round the cul-de-sac where
having wanted a quiet life families make peace
with brutal settlements becoming roman
that is texan
below the footbridge a childhood precedent
revives itself among the turtles swallowing mosquitoes
drops of their peculiar blood doing nothing
the deliberation of water having been missed
in spite of possession of the qualities of man
a propensity toward stopgap for the floodtides
bayou time is slow time
not empty of watershed threat slow
like summer on the precipice of hurricane season
so much time thought of being looked at
having forgotten to look
delibrate as the bathstreams swallowed by housepipes
profane residues of the civilized bodyhair polymer beadlets
sweat tinged foam slow slow to gather at their mouths
II.
empire holds fast to the ones who love you
so they try to love you in empire
affection nested in work week intervals
groceries discount retail drug prescriptions
discards in the bayou rustblood carmine
gathered upon the body of a shopping cart
who named this mundane grief excess
who named this sensation void
outside the economy I uproot the wilds
chew for the pungency of a small pleasure
III.
after the flood the city keeps open its reservoir wounds
an island of trees runs through its vein
engulfed with the chatter of grackles
their chatter ends the governance reigning upon the structure
the assigned names premised on its sediment
herons swell in presence among the abandonments of production
they stay in the branches loom with elegance
iridescent airs of being unmastered
***
Author photo courtesy of author
