DECEMBER 22

Tick-tock

Goes the tired clock

Cars loom

By the side of the highway

Parked hodge podge

Like twinkling stars

Silence embraces their gleam

And in the distance

Fire burns

On its' whim

Water streams down a forgotten street

Weeds creep up through the road

Grass grows in a dripping sink

Seeds blown in there to sew

Sign waves in the wind

Clings to the link of a chain

Flashing its breezy message

"Blow Out Sale"

Over and over again

Crows fly

In and out a grocery store window

Styrofoam peanuts

Swirl up in a lazy devil

And then settle

Animals forage

Still nervous and yet bold

Blue Bird builds her nest

Atop a sign which reads

"Sold!"

Dogs play in packs

The yelp of pups

Bark of freedom

Felines on rooftops

Watch birds fly by

But lounge there

Too full

To eat them

Deer graze through

A parking lot meadow

Swallowed by green

And flowers

Mice nest

In perfect stacks

Of Martha Stewart

Towels

Squirrels by the thousands

Pick up what the rest forgot

Their fluffy tails

Flick and bump

As they thump along

On Squirrel made trails

Cattle as far as the eye can see

Fill downtown city streets

Now overgrown

They're safest amongst the ruins

Predators long since freed

Crouch below the shade of a bus stop

They move with the herd

Now one with them

Subways full with rats

The size of opossums

Reign there in the dark

As bats rain guano down upon them

Roaches and creeping things abound

In this now permanent eco system

None mind the other

They just thrive

With what they're given

Amongst the prairies

And off toward the clarity

Of the trees

Beyond the pale of a

Far gone society

There's a hum

That gives rise to a sound

Like singing

Like a babbling brook

On a quiet morning

The cool rise of day

Meets with rhythmic drumming

A sound that announces morning

Humans rise from slumber

Children stretch out and play

Men jump down from hammocks

And prepare for the chores of the day

Women laugh in conversation

As the sweet smell of breakfast stirs

Through the air

Food pulled straight from the earth

Brings tribe together there

You still can hear the stories

Of the mage and the sage

Who speak of long ago

And reminisce of

The Great Day

When the sun stood still

And the air didn't move

The clock stopped ticking

And the humans had to choose

A life of abundance

The life of the new view

The day the new count started

December 22

12/18/12