There are distant chimneys I knew as a child
hidden factories of char and age
now monuments of rust
the weathered love songs of gray brick
with roofs as close as ivy ever reaches heaven
there are buildings with no names but in the sunset
have soft faces, fixed expressions, wrinkled smiles
I walk by them even now…like old men who still sit outside,
I almost want to wave “hello”
Light creeped like timid animals
and each hour had a feel to it
when we watched the clouds from porches
knew the smell of one lawn from another that…
was just a little different in the shade remember?
black silhouettes of starlings dotted power lines like ash
the final embers of the day extinguished in the eulogy of dusk
suspended in mid air floating just above the wire drifting off…
into a sun that swallowed everything but just smaller than the sky some how
and we were always waiting for the credits never knowing quite whose line came next
and Mom could hardly make me come inside back then and yet…
I don’t remember when I’ve seen the stars last…you?
Smileswithteeth 