Sundown
Dawn presses its clammy toes
Against my eyes
Snap open
Dry leaves crunch
Rain’s a lost cause
Busy summers
The homework of housekeeping
Flaps open like a vague, vintage film
Birds won’t twitter back
Because the summer storm stole their nests
Mother feeds grains to the callous winds
Filling tea cups, breaking eggs
I hum along with Alexa
Songs to dull the dullness
A ceramic bowl titters like a nervous child
On the ground, dad squats
To pick up the mess of insurance papers
Later, there’ll be frivolous guests to entertain
On the phone, parry glib salesmen
In the evening filled with books and unfinished drafts
I’ll think of the sweet mangoes
We gorged on that rainy summer
Why do my lips turn sour?
I can’t remember so many things slip away
In the fog of memories
My friends picked out a forest of capricious roots
Tomorrow I shall see sundown in the arms
Of long forgotten ruins
Read a villanelle,
Tucked away somewhere under a damp pillow
Smelling of wilted white blossoms.
