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;