A city consumed, drowning

(after Romans 8:18-25)

A city consumed, drowning

 in moans, streets

weeping, buildings

groaning,

a saturation of pain wrapping

itself as gutters fill, tears

overflowing

we weep, anticipating

what?

an end, a beginning

either / both

neither?

we anticipate

what we do not know

stumbling on slick

sidewalks, we wait

for sunrise, dawn

the morning.

Photograph by George Hodan via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.

In the afternoons

In the afternoons, when

the children are playing

at a neighbor’s, she sits

in the screened-in porch,

seeking what little breeze

there is without the flies

and mosquitoes, and stares

at the smooth cement

floor. The tears form

at the interior of her eyes,

but no one is there

to notice.

Photograph by George Hodan via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.