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Nightmarish Building

an arsenal
you could not see above
the mortarish wall
though it filled a block
and had an entrance
the other side was longer
and needed maintenance
there black city birds nested
I was interested
but could not explain to you
how I found it an avenue
later as we got lost
and left our map
on a grocery sill
and evening fell
we went our way back
to our wonderful room before dark
using the nightmarish building
as a landmark

David Francis

In a Storm

In an unfurnished apartment
on the 6th floor
we spent the night
with a white heater on wheels
the shutters beat
disturbing neighbors as well as ourselves

it was black
spacious as a museum
we heard the sound
of a child flying by
the separation of the sleeping bags
was unendurable
as if twilight itself

In the morning I went to the window
and found silent small snow
flakes that might get in
a man's eye in a story

the boards of the construction
outside the window were diagonal
so that upon each was snow

the nursery windows were lit
across the forecourt
and the alphabets were on the walls

the spire was hoary and conical

the tiny birds far down below
and oh! the ground is proper white

the children of the city
play in shoulder formation
and their voices reach
up and down stairs
but volley into the sky

as well

Mirth and the desire to photograph
mingle and course
through the morning

David Francis