Poetry by Maxwell Redder
City Walks (Winter)
I.
Hypnotic eyes watch passing strangers
whistle tunes of new pop
culture, lugging thirty packs
like a mother a lulling baby – careful not to drop
or shake it for fear it might explode.
Hypnotic sunset splendor igniting clouds
gorgeously with chemical pinks and elegant
golds, carefully staining the sky
like a molding picture – anxiously fermenting
as if an abandoned berry skin.
Hypnotic white-noise highway
traffic perfumed in constant train-horn warning
blares, cascading low spectrum waves
down packed or abandoned streets – mingling
like molten fire ash weaving.
Hypnotic wires swaying rhythmically
in wind camouflaged against God-
cells, insistently propelling life
through subversion – old flesh
freshens and materials crumble.
II.
Frantic wind breaking in brick
alleyways as flapping plastic bags
swish, wisps drone like churning
saw blades – high pitched squeals
slicing through bits of air.
Frantic moon beams frosting grass
through gold and silver crusted cloud
gaps, carelessly blotting surfaces
like a spotlight – resourceful when searching
for those lost in darkness.
Frantic breath fog dissipating
like a violin vibrato against a vaulted
dome, hauntingly dying into silence’s
churning belly – void exposing congealed
ignorance of mass.
Frantic carnival merriment conjoined
with remembrance of lives once
embraced, holidays yearn for sporadic
wartime emotion – surmounting
misoneism flanks those whom are bitter.
III.
Endear city walks past girls
jump-roping over shattered glass bottle
remnants, froth patinas glistening
stained pinks and silver – scarves
collecting joyful yells.
Endear umbrageous buildings standing
monument to crooked worker fingers
callused, relics lingering for abuse
like sequoia trees – ‘under the knife’
undermines and accelerates.
Endear curses fragrant teachers
slipping cautious wisdom like sloths to
Buddhists, concrete slowness transforming
material to void – vicious purging
of insidious to tranquil.
Endear infant rats eagerly sifting
trash with tiny, callused, and embracing
claws, grasp remaining parcels and feast
beneath lamp light – shadow blankets
contrasting iridescent.