Joe Imwalle
Sunday Urban Pastoral
For a setting I offer
California pleasant weather
and the doppler effect
of a passing jet airliner,
the hee-haw Eeyore roar
that rises and retreats
and leaves you stranded
in a day more beautiful
than can be acknowledged.
Next door, the neighbor
is spraying down his cars.
A helicopter enters the scene
checking traffic
or something more sinister
while the mind
swats it out of consciousness.
An afternoon breeze
animates leaves in the backyard.
Wind chimes again-
The sound of departing
while staying still.
The neighbor has moved on
to watering cypress trees
that mark our separation.
Sparrows are nesting
in the canopy.
Fledglings cry out
as their mother rises up.
I no longer recall
crying out for mine.
In the distance, engines
of frustrated men
are revved into the red
and give a good shake
to the Sunday
afternoon air.
