imaginary rhapsody

[featherweighter]

the corridor valley became a
lawnchair
when we walked through it
and lemon hues were startling to see
but they gladdened you
and we glared and stinted and trees hid their faces

you plucked a shyblade from the grass and twanged a puckered tune
and danced
and we laughed nor’easterly
and the prostrate elegants skulked away, though we took no notice
of the faltering light, the painted flowers
or the cracked forehead wound on the earth beneath us

joyful now, we lounged and splayed
toe-woven on a patch of grass
we lightened our hair with blood from the creek
stuck twigs in our noses
thrummed on the suspensions of the subway gate
waiting till sunrise
when my gray garments and your brown
would pull us past the pink poultry
beyond the draped atrocities
back to our spot behind the grimy, barb-topped wall