a walk

and YOU! you would not believe…
those stone houses, with dimly lit trees slowly passing
in a yellow light
cast from porches
from that alley, the sound of a generator or some other device
rows of telephone poles and dumpsters underneath the halide
children run just before dawn
“dawn i missed you
you have no idea”
where is she
where’s she gone?
and the black and white dog, a shaggy collie
looks back to the child
the sky is blue and then black.
sometimes, like tonight
a giant ceiling of clouds ready to break
i felt rain
i contemplated returning
i turned
i will just walk by
it was cool when it hit my skin
once in a while.
the bricks, the light, the shadows
they look so terribly real
so terribly slow
so terribly conforming
to all those laws
nothing i can not capture
this is the end
“i try to grab on to reality but its so fleeting
i used to have no doubts”
“what good news do i have for you?
some guys from bering springs, just outside grand rapids
they killed a girl and fried her up in a bbbq.”
the leaves are rendered to perfection
the little iron rings on top of the fence
an endless sidewalk
just beneath the canopy of trees
that brush your cheeks every then and again
and the windows with yellow light
dogs watch out the windows
i see it ahead
it is so real
a corner apartment
the center window is open
a tv is framed so perfectly it must be staged
who is pulling my strings
it flashes “morality”
and a blue light
as i walk toward
who is this
“reality”
what is this
“get real”
“so did they eat her or not”
“no, they were just trying to get rid of the body.
something straight out of fargo, eh?”
the sidewalk
i can feel it through my shoes.
and the cigarette.
it burnt my finger
when i went past the hospital
perched in the lights of a parking lot
a remnant of death
much too surreal
too dramatic
when i flicked my cigarette…
i didn’t see it fly
they would have never thought of that..
NOT seeing it fly.
its the end of the world
the rain hits my skin every once in a while
there are brick buildings
with square porches stacked three or four stories
and dimly lit yellow light windows
and there at the stop light
a limestone church against a deep blue sky
a spotlit stone jesus with arms outstretched like he’s saying,
“what, what do you want from me?”