disfavor; a
temperamental morning: the sun (
    hanging low to the ground,
    illuminating the clouds from below
    as if to melt them underfoot:
) breaking into the night.

the halls of royalty, down which every
light shines: lines struck along the
streets, past store-
fronts and home
fronts

stand in solitude at the crossroads (
    upon which cars creep
    crept; hatched crosswalks are a joke now,
    told to children by parents
), and wait.

past signboards calling out to us;
chalk on dark background where once seven
fifty and tax was the going rate for
the sacrifice of innocent lives
put into, next to
a pickle

the economics; perhaps sound but
now one has a tag with so many post-zeros (
    which were placed by whom anyway?
    some laugh, but the futures markets
    will find a way to make it work

  we came to a steady drumbeat
  the conductors are long gone now;