A.M. Walks

Slippery sidewalks are spattered with morning mist. A beetle plummets into a sidewalk crevice—deep as a canyon. His legs tap dance for the sun like an off-Broadway street performer. A choir of birds sings a dirge for cracked eggs cooked by calico cats. Winds whisper the poetry of rotting flesh from last week's roadkill. Children dance ecstatically over carcasses of frogs, themselves only tadpoles last week.  

    rusty gate won't close,
    knees can't bend—ankles frozen

    everything is stuck