pharisees
robed in green and gold
flock from the courthouse grove
to which they shall return for evening prayer
in interim assaulting with pious declarations
hard fruit
they roost and eat
from the underside of a frond
why he is perched upside down?
one demands of the Groundskeeper
below
in the schoolyard hedges
tomcat is forgetting night terrors
eaten out bellies of strays that hang
in black jaws like crescent moons
treasure!
polyethylene-encrusted
so engrossed in struggle
you are forgiven for thinking
he was wrestling an Angel
dawn
a child on christmas
turning a loose glass bulb
illuminating dewey orbs
hung on leylines of spider’s silk
constellations
strung between disparate space
each lattice vibrating gently
it seems to the fly
with the force of far-off Knocking
unseen
in a nook of sheet metal awning
hen bows her head
upon a manger of twigs and trash
awaiting the booming voice
june
and its implications further than alpha centauri
heaven closer than the Principal in his garage
rearranging courses on the master schedule
all through the long summer
Joseph Byron Bennett
Bennett Diction 