Rectangles

I am preparing myself

for an empty moment

when my sole concern

will be the maintenance 

and watering 

of colorful rectangles

in the backyard.

When the wind blows it all away. (for my friends)

A terrible wind roared for hours overnight.

In my last bits of sleep I dreamt 

of cartoon trees falling.  Our forest

collapsed around me.

I awoke to wind like a freight train.

I lay there, unsettled, watching the ceiling.

I'm afraid of lots of things, but the wind

is right up there with war, poverty, and

never having a chance to see you again.

Lazarus

In old industrial neighborhoods in cities west of Cleveland

every 3rd or 4th house sits vacant, and yet red brick factories,

long cold, have begun to puff stale smoke again, a resurrection

like hand-rolled cigarettes of machine shop workers

from the '40s & '50s returned to haunt.  Dave told me today

they can't find enough skilled manufacturers to fill jobs countywide.

I think he's full of shit, but he's got me thinking about unemployment,

about Lazarus of Bethany stepping from his tomb, walking down

East Bridge Street, maybe bumming a smoke on his way to work.