Can one articulate such rage
as loudspeaker flailing
distress and foreboding?
the building is burning
and a dog is howling at an ambulance passing

there's a riot in the street below
young men collide together
in the waning moonlight
cars speed recklessly by
as an old man bangs on a newspaper dispenser
mimicking a drunken heartbeat

I'm not afraid

In the hot July of the city night
bats will strike mosquitoes
in the haze of the floodlights
pointed up at the cathedral

a psalm resonates a dream recurring:
the first native tying a hide to a drum
and lifting a voice to mimic the cicada