BULLDOZED

i start a poem, having no idea
it’s spiraling into a japanese maple
where it fools me; believing
society can turn this planet
around, leaping backwards

more importantly
it starts w/ a dog;

a bark from across the hill
a street where folks once clotted
all goes blank in a clap of hands
everyone’s evaporated

the republicans did it;

turned health into distress
when the ax split concrete
just enough to swallow
and the sky cleared the fog
just enough to form tomorrow
now we bow?

small notes in the middle of the night
recognize the extreme detailing
in a life etched three dimensionally
like a holograph
outlining us and what we see;
a rolled up washcloth
misplaced socks
the rootlessness, we can’t discount

and all the spiraling downward,
away from the japanese maple,
lands at our feet
passing hearts, bulldozed
into loitering, beneath
a wallop of tears