Sparrow
blue and grey plastic pallets
stacked outside the lottery
gas station
cheap cigarette
store
sunlight streaks concrete barriers
dropped like misplaced toys
flat butts and shiny wrappers
loiter in the crevices
crinkled hondas unload children trailed
by texting mamas in checkered trousers
the pump burrs softly
stark housing units peer over the retaining wall
windows hung with postal paper and scarves
inviting ticking lines
of people
trucks
traffic lights that blink endlessly
while just beyond
are hills that grip a river
it's winding woven in brick mills and bedrock
a distant crow specks the sun as a sparrow flits to the pavement
shivers
and zips into a hole
in sun scorched blue plastic
disappears into black shadow
I watch.
another. another. a queue forms on the chainlink.
the sparrow reappears
pokes its slate grey head from a handhold
drops to the pavement
the gas nozzle
bucks in my hand
I won't go look
at what's inside
the blue plastic pallet.
blue and grey plastic pallets
stacked outside the lottery
gas station
cheap cigarette
store
sunlight streaks concrete barriers
dropped like misplaced toys
flat butts and shiny wrappers
loiter in the crevices
crinkled hondas unload children trailed
by texting mamas in checkered trousers
the pump burrs softly
stark housing units peer over the retaining wall
windows hung with postal paper and scarves
inviting ticking lines
of people
trucks
traffic lights that blink endlessly
while just beyond
are hills that grip a river
it's winding woven in brick mills and bedrock
a distant crow specks the sun as a sparrow flits to the pavement
shivers
and zips into a hole
in sun scorched blue plastic
disappears into black shadow
I watch.
another. another. a queue forms on the chainlink.
the sparrow reappears
pokes its slate grey head from a handhold
drops to the pavement
the gas nozzle
bucks in my hand
I won't go look
at what's inside
the blue plastic pallet.
