The screaming ambulance passes
mother and child at the crosswalk.
The illuminated lemon tree waits
quietly for the children wearing
backpacks on a school day. Cars
wait impatiently for them to pass.
Our neighbor stands in his driveway
bathed in gray sun. A police cruiser
stalks its prey near the dreary liquor
store across the street from the dirty
motel. The congested high-rise freeway
casts a permanent shadow on the street
below. Garish neon alerts passers-by of
the strip club near the intersection.
The abandoned hospital is now a movie
set. The film crew loiters on the sidewalk
as the nearby church remains unchanged.
Apartments surround the aging diner,
while the corpse of the mall decays
into slow ruin. Jets and private planes
fly back and forth like rock doves.
