Poem

In the Backyard by the Beach All Held Still

Mid-day sunlight and shade,
all color is green and gold.

All clouds are motionless –
the earth’s rotation has stopped.

All smell is honeysuckle and rose.
The quiet breeze is but a tickle

against my nape and forearm hair.
All flowers bloom within buds.

Bees rumble through clover beds.
Nearby, my friend snores, dead

asleep on a blanket in the grass,
as removed as the moon and stars.

Nearby, all ocean waves crash
with the measure of a waltz.

Two squirrels bounce all laundry
hung from a line, tied dogwood tree

to bush, clothes falling to ground,
starting the earth’s spin again

as all the world’s scientists’ rise,
bow to the sun and go mad.