4th
of July
bagpipes big mad Hitchcockian crows
siren families striding hurrying
want a whole lot of love sings the Joplin
mimic white birch willow swings pollen
the cars in shade
way way down gonna give you my love
staying in the house
the crows outside are winning
car door a muffled crowd gasp wheels at the top of the sky
and waits
the night sky's visuals
called "Untamed Retribution" and "Rain Fire"
an objective sincerity the war does not space itself
two teenage girls at the screen with the sun in their eyes
all day time takes
all the time bright canisters in the culverts girls read
hills of it
day-long trash truck heads down our street
what a big
engine emergency brake
distance between telephone pole and queen palm's trunk
smoke loops from back of the house to front
leaves no signet in cloud sidewalk's scalding path
'neath county's ripe
corn table
globe's eggshell
for romance the girls layer their tears back into their skin
many dawns the boys waving
bends
air crosses clouds in hot nets
increasing the local tenor's uprightness
fumes exhume
the crowd stands open-mouthed
heads lifted
you
you
you
you
you
and
you
send me
smoke falls through each head of hair
to each ear's
size and limit
love
sound-chamber'd
moon's
far off
place
Copyright Credit: Gillian Conoley, "4th" from Peace. Copyright © 2014 by Gillian Conoley. Reprinted by permission of Omnidawn Publishing.
Source: Peace (Omnidawn Publishing, 2014)