lupine dance in the blow-by of trucks then rest while hummingbirds taste their sex
I sit by the side of the road with an old dog chewing on sour grass
wait for the sun to slide down listen to twilight birds wander home
through streaks of late summer light like in a happy dream and watch

boys climb trees hoping they’ll reach their victory fort in heaven
until moms call and they return from make believing they are Chumash—
high flying falcons or laughing seals—wild warriors hunting
their imagination for bravery and yarns they’ll brag about once locked up

in the schoolyards of discipline as they lean toward windows open
to wild grasses yellowed with autumn their seed blown to kingdom come
and blue jays complaining high on telephone wires about worms
working the soil for families that dream about fish and flowers

about saving the village from progress and how their girls can grow up safe
with a wreath of posies in their hair a love sick dance in their bellies
as they watch roses bloom and waving lavender beckon
singing an anthem that promises the death of fear and freedom for all

Image: Phenakistoscopes (1833), Public Domain Review