Department of Public Works

wait until bedlam subsides--
the white grains scraped from pavement
stick, tenacious, unyielding,
crystalline strong structures foiling
manmade metal

scattering the salt, rough seasoning
for the streets, as they talk,
each to each, through the air,
jesting of this and that,

through the lace curtains of ice
blinding sight, hands thickened
with cold and double-plied gloves
forging on up hills, to dead ends, to
the quiet cul-de-sacs blanketed
with the white that deadens sound
so thoroughly
a respite from wheel-
squealing, the engine-roars
replaced by the slow steady sound
of salt scattered wide, curb to
curb, (or close enough) to clear
our way, to cut a path,

to leave us free to walk again
unblocking the black arteries that
join us, one to one, to everyone

Mo bhron

oh love (the rain is falling)
will you look on me when
I lie long on your grave

eyes blinded with salt-water,
tracing the letters of your name,
over and again until the

letters rhyme with the beat of
my heart echoing back, a
sad refrain, oh love, my

lost one, my soul will fly
across the sea to meet yours,
to comingle in the mist

at once together and apart,
watching the waves crashing on the rocks,
as the seabirds wheel and cry

46th Precinct

resurrect, 46-Adam boy, did you read?
Adam has a ten o'clock meal, central. He
has a date with this Eve, and there's
this apple, see, they mean to eat...

central, the address comes in as 2-2-5-6 Walton,
two-eddie on the two, could you
ten-five the job?

check and advise, our ways and ends and
the means we use to get there, the
chronic call we get, midnight to eight
in the grey sleep-stupid dawn the
shapes change, are uncertain in the mind

no further, no further, no callback
either

Adam, you on the air? Adam, what's your status?

Check and advise as the moonlight silvers
over the redbrick, yellowbrick buildings,
thick-grey cement holding it all together,
rough icing for these baked blocks

EDP ranges, circles the room once again,
claws at the wooden squares of the floor,
so thingrained and exact

EMS has been called,
resurrect 46-Adam, resurrect