A Desperate Respite
an election eve poem
Published in
Nov 3, 2020
A working man, suspended by helicopter cables,
dangles above the falling aspen leaves
gilding the bank of the Trinity River.
A respite from machines is no longer a feature
of a wood land retreat, hired leaf blower
tidies the off season lawn.
Tourists, like election observers,
notice the noise, the violent vibe
in the new American air.
Tomorrow’s haunts make a ghost town
of the National Park, the charred
timbers scratch an orange sky.
Ducks and crows sail straight
as arrows, canyon shadows
fall south on the water.
The local kids rev ATV’s,
silence, once golden, falls on
election eve.
