North America: Hornets buzz in a stinky green
dumpster
Pidgeon's feet clasp the edge of a skyscraper
rooftop
South America: Moonlight in the jungle ---- rain
pats a thick, fleshy leaf ---- a yellow eyed
panther slowly blinks once
Asia: Edge of the desert ---- a boiling mirage
scorpion skitters across dry, cracking soil
North America: Wyoming high plains ---- cool
gusts ---- hulking, brown bison chews grass
Africa: Wrinkly old woman in a hospital gown
squeezes the cot's cold metal bars, then feels
nothing, squints at the florescent light above,
then sees nothing, listens to the drone of
medical machines ---- silence
Europe: A child is born in the sterile light
of the delivery room, naked, slimy, sobbing
--- Burlington, VT, 2013