We played kick the can Where the sidewalk cracked, Ruptured by a cottonwood’s roots. Then winds from the canyon came rushing Through the leaves of the tall cottonwoods (I believed that sound was the sound Of time rushing away), And sent us home.
I paused on the front porch. From across the street a faint mist drifted, Rainbird spray from Reservoir Park, Chuff chuff chuff chuff Chuff-chuff-chuff-chuff-chuff- chuff-chuff-chuff. At the horizon beyond the park, Jagged streaks of pink tapered into purplish dusk Above the shrinking mirror of Great Salt Lake.
II
I entered the silent house Where something strange was taking place. Darkness billowed from the living room couch. Ink oozed from unlit lamps. Shadows deformed familiar shapes: Chairs, an end table, a portrait, the piano, A piece of driftwood from the Dead Sea. I watched my hands flicker, Merge into shade, dissolve. I stood trying to grasp What the darkness was doing.
Then an engine hummed in the driveway, Tires crunching asphalt, A car hummed into the garage. Voices. The kitchen door opened. The darkness retreated Behind the sofa and beneath solid chairs. The simple shapes returned, Pulled across a boundary into night From a summer evening on University Street.
This "University Street" is a small lane in Salt Lake City Utah near the U. of Utah.