Idlewild
by K. E. Duffin
Through actuarial lenses, new afflictions
scald the lush greenery of those fields
where waterlogged marshes rebel
against the trinkets of glittering sprawl,
against the tracery of mammoth runways
where Lilliputian planes still rise
above the featureless bay of our wonder,
above the Barbadan streets of summer,
as funerals of strangers clamor, drag, and sway.
In dreams, the westward, dappled ledge of day
withdraws endlessly to open waters,
as capillaries ooze their dazzle of cars.
What the years themselves forgot to save
dissolves in the soft amnesia of the waves,
leaving whispered filigrees of words, foliage,
as dark birds fly above the cortège.
Copyright © 2017 by K. E. Duffin.