Row House Lanes

Past oblong greenish plots, condensed in scale,
by hedge defined, brick-edged and picket-fenced
in white, a figure shimmers; short-sleeve pale
embroidered polyester; name, if sensed
then unpronounceable. He bends to lift
a squealing eight-pound lump; a ready stance,
then casts it rolling sidelong through a rift
with English; shoulders twitch a steering dance.
In flight, the flashing nights and days decay;
a football's kicked, grass trimmed, the children wed;
hedge pruned, a final hand of bridge to play -
then startled eyes; the flummoxed freshly dead.
   The languid pillars tumble without end
   and bending low, he hefts to cast again.

Dec. '99

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