Railroad Dawn

they’ve been gathering at the train station four weeks running now
police     carnival barkers     sleep doctors
lawyers with morse code keys attached to their fingers
they’re waiting for the large blue egg on the third platform to hatch

every morning just before i wake up it wobbles
there are scratching sounds inside it and all the trains
suddenly get quiet and that’s the signal
for the people who have come here to quiet down too

	no one passes judgment on the value of a dawn
	it’s new despite itself     it resembles
	itself as it’s been over and over again since before the dinosaurs
	but no one arrests its motion     holds it to law
	after all it’s only earth turning over in its sleep
	after all when it’s done it can’t go back to slumber

from Yew Nork (2014)

One Word

as the daylight comes back again
the table left on the sidewalk folds
itself into a small metallic square
then expands suddenly
off over trees    hedges    parked cars
all this so fast it seems to disappear
but it hasn’t vanished at all
just gone unhindered into the vast universe
that you thought you knew
leaving just the small paper sign
that had been taped to its top:
            free

Dominant Species

man
on the street
feeding treats
to his dog
on their walk

the moment canines
took over the world