accident

accident up on the new highway

crumpled metal, tire in the ditch

smoke in the sky

glass over three lanes

cars, trucks, delivery vans

drive down onto old country roads

avoiding gridlock grief

most speed past

rolling stop signs

blasting gravel road dust

a few stop...then more

at the farmer's stand

they purchase crisp apples

huge field pumpkins, and 

big bunches of beets

then slow and easy

back to the city

Culture

culture?

I didn't think you had a culture...

...hmm?

well we did

fires and flat top guitars

and beers passed around

a dozen, or so,  people singing

just belting out

Thorn in my Pride

Wheat Kings

Rockin' in the Free World

Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town

 - and so many more

bonding over our Columbia House CDs 

cassette tape libraries

shared, copied, and copied again

townies soaking up the sounds

in a warm beer buzz

campfire whisky

fire light through

Glencairn glass

amber whisky swirls

intense smoky peat

figs, dates, vanilla,

a touch of sea air

   wafting 

in the evening breeze

Sentinel

4 am 

low motor sound in the cul de sac

black sedan full of young men...boys?

scanning for opportunity

key fob relay thieves, or

tools from the trailer out front

 - maybe gas from the shed

the tired monk emerges

from the cedars

puts down his morning tea

120 000 lumen flashlight

clicks on 

illuminates the temple yard, 

and startled faces

one burglar turns

jogs away

jumps...splosh!

lands in thick ditch muck

tumbles into the side door, and away

one shoe remains 

stuck in weedy slime

dozer

bulldozer rumbles

ploughing over trees

pulling up roots

that cling to ice age rock

tremors shake

mud quakes

windows rattle

I turn the radio up

and look away

rain shadow

484 kilometers away...

...lets call it 500 

the rain has passed

raging fires are quenched

a few wisps of steam 

     the air crisp clean 

here the rain storm of the north

is just a steady mist now

the tired monk dribbles

shoots bank shots

swishes mid range jumpers

under the maple tree rain shadow

hooping

tree shade over the driveway

phife dawg rhythm 

bouncy old school beats

dribble step back three

can't miss

hooping in the early June heat.