Workaday

I stand in line
Outside Trader Joe's,
Be-masked and gloved,
Six-feet from neighbors,
See man across street
Emerge from concealing
Growth, holding fistfuls
Of foliage. He cries out,
Gyrates to abandoned desk
Near gutter, covers top
In twigs, swivels
To corner, jams branches
Under base of stop sign,
Leaps back to desk,
Grabs white bottle,
Sprays tiers of sprigs,
Slaps sidewalk with green
Switches. He twists, hurls base
Of sign, wields clutches of leaves
To dab surfaces.
At first he seemed 
To me a trickster making chaos.
Then I understood
He was cleaning the world

Laura Stickney 2020



Notes:

photograph by Laura Stickney