The horse and pony across the road
get free and drink the mop bucket.

Old dog Bear watches us build
a deck for days, then moves in under it.

Phone rings. Sunlight struggles through
the trees. The end of summer.

Bobby calls me to the window,
holds up a black snake on a stick.

Wheelbarrow on its side with shovels
blade down to wash. The earth hardens.

Picking up the yard and accidentally
falling into the abandoned tunnel.

echoes from the wrong direction.

Sunday comes like a friend. An old goat
walks in the house and stands on my bed.

Gas cans, two-cycle oil, chainsaw, scraps
of wood, sawdust: wages of sin.

Groundhogs stand morning watch
in the fields. Life does not end.

Looking into the small barn one night
I see Bobby fucking the landlady.

From the fence posts on, trees and vines
choke the road narrow.