Maple leaves tap rain gutters.

A tractor-trailer
pants
in a diner parking lot.

A tomcat removes
his bloody bandage.

A robin abruptly chirps and whistles
in the middle
of a carnal dream.

Eighteen seconds later
a train honks.

Crickets
form a revolutionary congress
below forsythia,
faded shingles,
and a 1920’s streetlamp
leaning against a sulfur breeze
whose kisses of fireflies
have only hours
to survive.

Miles away the chemical train
moans like a cow.