Yesterday he thought the future
\nwas a tense they taught you in school
\nwhere if you make a mistake
\nit isn\u2019t the end of the world.<\/p>\n
Well he learned his lesson
\nGod now give him
\nhis book bag back
\nlet him be on his way home again<\/p>\n
no voyous at the construction site
\ntaking his back pack
\nhis brand new anorak.
\nAnd no telling Dad <\/p>\n
who 1) won\u2019t go to the cops
\nfor what\u2019s just one more case of extortion
\nbetween a boy from Martinique
\nand some lighter-skinned toughs;<\/p>\n
2) won\u2019t go to the construction site
\n…one brick another brick
\nanother…until Dad falls balled-up on the ground
\nlike a test you failed <\/p>\n
yesterday\u2014only yesterday
\nGod so let him be on his way home again
\nwith a little pocket money
\nto buy a treat at the bakery.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It listed to the east, liable, the arborist said, to fall
\ninto the street, stave in cars,
\na neighbour\u2019s shipshape house and yellow brick wall,<\/p>\n
so Friday they came with chainsaws and gloves
\nand felled it, beginning
\nwith the high-up bendy branches and bright leaves;<\/p>\n
by the afternoon\u2019s end the ash tree was strewn
\nthigh-deep in the yard,
\nlimbs and brushwood good for the mulch machine;<\/p>\n
and a rabble of garden birds surveyed the debris
\nwhere that morning
\ntheir safe nests and lookouts had been. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sound of a shovel nicking dirt.
\nVoices of labourers
\nsinking posts into wet cement.<\/p>\n
Sibilance of aspens in the wind.
\nSoft-spoken voices speaking
\nSpanish under soft-spoken aspens.<\/p>\n
Shriek of a chainsaw ripping wood.
\nClang of a hammer striking nails.
\nShovel thunk against aspen suckers.<\/p>\n
Report of a stapler fixing wire.
\nLaughter bubbling like water
\ndown a bed of loaf-shaped boulders.<\/p>\n
Sound of a gate bolt shot.
\nSound of a tailgate dropped.
\nSigh of the gathered up tools. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Car locks zapped Suddenly, jet-thrust din. At the kitchen dock Future Perfect Yesterday he thought the future was a tense they taught you in school where if you make a mistake it isn\u2019t the end of the world. Well he learned his lesson God now give him his book bag back let him be on his way home again no voyous at the construction site […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[346,349],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nI exit the underground
\ngarage, borrowed mystery
\nunder my arm.
\nWhat am I thinking?
\nTrying not to think.
\nNot trying
\nnot to think. Not thinking.<\/em>
\nDoing laps
\nin the cool pool of myself.<\/p>\n
\nI crouch then spin
\nto the smear of green
\nwhere the river turns
\npast the football pitch
\nand see a flock of geese
\nclear the brush, bank,
\nand like a single thing
\nlift
\ninto the November sky. <\/p>\n
\na driver offloads
\nwater, shrink-wrapped,
\npalettes of soda
\nin desire-red cans. See
\nthose geese?<\/em> he says.
\nAnd together we tip
\nour heads up\u2014but
\nno sign of a goose now
\nto riddle
\nour allotment of sky. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"