neighborhood rises up in a wave

1. teething in the car seat
6month old cyler
facecrinkled and spitchoking
his mom a patchwork of apologies and sympathy
there is no substitute for being held

2. seven dollars is steep for a pound of cherries
but they are the sweetest
juiciest/crispest burstingest pound of cherries
i have ever chomped

3. by now
the farmstand worker with the pink swath of hair
and i
should know each others’ names

4. cyler sucks yellow peach flesh
while rachelle holds tight to slippery skin
mango too

5. speaking of wisconsin
i am indignant when i say
everybody else gets to have their partner in crime with them
and i want to have one there too

6. dad explains basic plant biology over speakerphone
how roots take energy in over the winter
and how this energy feeds the plants over the summer
and it reminds me of the leaf photo that emily brought to class
where the veins could double as
roads on a map

7. sleepbound on shipbed at 4:30pm
backpain layered over feverbones
when 35 feels like 89

8. downstairs neighbor buils up the bass
stopstart some kind of backforth
composing
filters up through floorboards

9. david’s running shoes
down the front hallway steps
spilling out into the dark of
9pm

10. how the silence of stillness
has the same sharp ring
as bright white walls

11. dream:
red craftsman toolbox on wheels
bought locked at a garage sale
when the buyer eventually teased it open
found
human bones
in each drawer
neighborhood rises up in a wave of
late night protests
a sea of signs and news crews