Everything is green, except

the lavender Jacaranda.

I hear the jagged bounce

of a basketball and the happy

Spanish of boys. The dogs

beg me to keep their bellies

full and the blue jay skips

along the redwood rail

in search of crusts. Iraq

is full of smoke and rattles

like bones

like a skull of sharpened teeth.

© Kyle Kimberlin

June 16, 2004