BOARDED-UP SHOP

Boarded-up shop. It gets dark, then it rains.

The paint on a mallet’s not fated to last.

It was always coming and now it’s here.

Boarded-up shop. In Chicago it’s hot.

A bubble in the glue and a crease in the tape.

Don’t mingle germane and irrelevant.

Boarded-up shop and a six-leggèd rat.

Chattering robin jets into a tree.

The humiliated aren’t as receptive.

Boarded-up shop. Dangle the car. 

The dripping slush’ll slide off in one piece.

If you say it’s obvious, it’s never.

Boarded-up shop. It’s May before June.

Shaming your students to teach ’em a lesson:

They learn something, not the lesson.

Boarded-up shop. Beer bottle sweats.

Curtains get sucked up against the screen.

If it’s not your job, then whose is it.

Boarded-up shop. Scissor the top:

A pound of coffee in a metal bag.

They don’t care about the minds of their enemies.

Boarded-up shop. Little walk in the rain.

Softcover book with thick plastic pages:

Resisting concession to nuance.

Boarded-up shop. The buzzer goes off.

The driers emitting a droning B flat. 

Hello, officer handing out tickets.

Boarded-up shop. How dare you not know.

It was always coming and now it’s here.

She always “knows what she saw.”

Boarded-up shop. Clouds rolling in.

Wind makes the leaves all point the same way.

No need for an investigation.

Boarded-up shop. Severe terror rain.

We’re all on the shoulder, hazards going.

Doesn’t matter what anyone meant.

Boarded-up shop. Kick the lights and lock up.

Rolling seascape in every direction.

Horizon with green and black waves.