Fast

Money printed blue fades
until it matches
all the rest of it.
Burnt leaves swirl
in the birdbath
cracked almost in half
but holding water.

Thirty something year old men
take their cars apart
and put them back together.
All hours of the night ring
with terriers fighting
over dead rats
in the muddy yard.

Boys pick up girls
on their bikes
and they go off
to sample bright stars
of the night.
Mothers light candles
in windows hoping
somebody will see,
but never follow.

Dead trees turned to dust
by dry winds
fill the space between
lightning bugs swarming
after moths lusting for light.
A lost orphan holds
the heavy gun against
his heart and vows
to take revenge
upon them all.

Horses panic in the stable
sending the daughter out
with just a torch and her bare feet
to somehow save them.
The clock hands spin
so rapidly they cut
apart the hours
much like hunted deer
and slowly disappear.

The empress paints her face
to look like something
made of porcelain,
and shatters when she falls
off that high balcony.
Miners dig their way
out of the other side
and have nothing left
to do but let their eyes
adjust.

Accountants punch their
calculators burnt out
on the never ending numbers,
and go home early.
In fact, everyone on earth
all goes home early
and spreads lamb’s blood
on their doors.

I cross bridges on foot
between Ohio and West Virginia
always stopping in the middle
to look over at the water
rushing under,
somehow wishing I could move
as fast as rivers do.