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.