Dusk, mosquitoes, lilac and thunderheads
Step down from the sky balanced on breeze and the undersides of leaves,
The river is choppy and rushed, shouldering past the piers of the bridge
The night is about to swallow itself whole.

Bald heads rock steady on screened-in porches
Lick their lips in hungry anticipation
The first streak of light and piercing crack
Shatters the horizon