POEM: July 5th

a july 4th on a monday
means there is work the next day
so we become realists and eat and drink
over the weekend instead.
no one wants to carry around
a leaden head on that tuesday.

in tepid sunlight shy as a duckling
making its way to shore,
the lake exposes its slender face
its pianist's fingers,
its alabaster skin
and delicate bluest eye.

A mosquito motor-boat
leans hard against the flat water,
fog, its morning coat

after the celebrating
is just the deep hole
that silence hopes to fill.