Red-winged black bird sings his warning

country road is ending soon

Ditch daisies squint and clematis whispers

We can’t go with you over there

Airport traffic chorus in the roundabout

Somebody’s humming off key

Discarded at the edge

between tall grasses and concrete

blue sleeping bag curls around absence

Who slept here under the stars last night?

I ask Dandelion who only smiles and waves

Secrets are secrets

Nobody’s coming back this way

All the traffic halts for the walker

I hope I don’t limp or stumble

Impatience rising with mercury on tongues

Wind’s playful on the overpass

Lovers’ lock marks hearts’ forever embrace

I won’t jump

but I imagine what mess a falling

would make

There is the town in the distance

You can smell her everywhere

I pause with the dogs in the alley

to comb my hair

There’s a sign in the Garry Oak on the corner

No heavy big trucks welcome there