Write long letters
with a broke left hand
to an address since demolished…

Batons are for twirling.
My sister was good at it…

You see,
the thing about dogs is…

Something is wrong:
no crickets saw into the night,
no toads hum in the crabgrass…

I crouched low
to examine
a red beetle…

The criers of dawn
are not birds, chattered
among black limbs and leaves…