Likestarlings

The Sun the Sun the Sun

Tried to shake birdsongs out of his head

sparrows pecking black spots of gum.

To an oleander halfheartedly like a tree

a puddle of sprinkler water glinted,

wavelet repeating a flash of sun, July.

He should not be on a bench

outside the skunky nickel arcade.

Some kids emerged from its doors

licking cotton candy off their wrists.

An old woman was trying to ignore a boy

flinching and unsettling the bench.

Too hot for exasperated looks.

She takes no answer for an answer

monosyllabic as the sun.

Wind picked up the smell, like farts.

The oleander brushed the garbage can.

Chicken haulers rolled past

spewing Turneresque whorls,

white feathers scattered and floated

selected sparrows.

With no body on the sidewalk.

Oh, three men with matted hair

push one single shopping cart

just like yesterday, just like day,

they're there.

Somewhere else, a preacher took a Bobcat

and dug up the parking lot of his church

along the river, looking for gold.

Everyone worried the church

would fall in the hole

perhaps on a Sunday while he was down there

picking at fool's gold under his fingernails

squinting in the hole of sky for a look.

The truth is, the local newspaper blew past.

A man was stabbed by a neighbor during a fight with his brother;

a shooting victim showed up at East Mercy fire station;

cock fights led to 33 arrests in rural Oro County.

Man howls. Fights dog. Dog tears his face off.

The truth is, the Sheriff's Department is armed to the teeth.

They shot the dog's face off.

People on the street didn't read the paper

but all of them saw the dog's face shot off.

There was a casual 'just so' quality to blood left in the driveway.

The bus was late.

He walked around a stop sign once

sort of wandered down Olive,

needed a hat.

Nobody should be out walking at this time of day.

She tapped her foot

calling the result music.