Not Far Back

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NOT FAR BACK

The swell of cicada washed over 

the scald of late Georgia July

then receded back into the deep 

coolness of Fall lettuce and mulch 

beneath the Bradford Pear. 

How quickly we drop back to 

sleep after being swarmed with meat 

and red-eyed wonder. Just months ago

we were pulsed from our pillows

and deposited on porches in morning dark

where we had no trouble believing 

in the world’s grating hallelujah

and another world sucking on our roots 

beneath our very feet. Come now, 

do we really need to wait 

another seven years?  

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