three esplanade octets

(1/22/17)

#1

a song sparrow alights amidst red cane bramble;

leaves flutter every time its tail feathers twitch—

& madrona’s berries have disappeared

except one vermilion berry sparkling in

sunlight amidst twigs & leaf fall; mullein stalks

rise beside the walkway, dessicated blooms

perpetuating last autumn—but see! pale green

rosettes spread ungainly leaves in the new grass

#2

amongst the promulgation of padlocks clasped

to the fence overlooking the river’s flow,

a rusted iron heart fastened with a pink

lock, a black lock dangling below both incribed

with names that needn’t be mentioned—two big logs

float ineluctably toward the Burnside Bridge

midstream, one stripped of bark, wood glazed almost red:

like love, nothing about that current lingers

#3

past the web of the sweet gum’s branches, its few

remnant seed pods & leaves not yet released to

the water, two cormorants are moving south

against the stream—a butterfly bush halfway

down the bank suspends last August’s dried blossoms

between water’s cryptic lines & sky’s pages

of cumulus & light coming all the way

down to the pussywillow’s proffered catkins

Jack Hayes

© 2017