War Play
Presidio Park / San Diego, CA / July
Under papered eucalyptus, the trail shifts
boundary lines. Long trunks
sever air into strips where a splatter
of kids in noisy T-shirts hurl
shouts & bandanas toward the capture
of flags. I run through them like a horse
in a gauntlet, streaming & crashing
into & out of the clearing, into & out of
make believe. I break believe,
and they let me, because I split through
a forgotten side. Outside and its infinite
prayer. Inside a crease of pleated city,
foliage exacts minutes from the onslaught
of sun. Shade spills from bodies onto asphalt.
