The elms in the Mahnomen Park are striped for Felling, and sugar beets Litter the roads at sharp Curves. Tree trunks lay Scattered where they Landed after the tornado Of 1958. Outside Crookston a yellow dog Just made it to the ditch To die, and farther Ahead, a mile from the Border, old shoes line the Shoulders. Canadians are Home now, wearing new Ones. Cleveland 1959 Tranquility of a town even though we're a big city.
Pedestrians leave home early, take ten extra minutes to stroll to the office.
The street seems cleaner than usual, some critical flotsam is missing. The bus leaves the curb with a thrill of exhaust. The birds sit on the courthouse pediment, and they are coy about some secret or other. The Press and Plain Dealer have been on strike for over a month. Their waters turned clay vermilion, their dew that skidded and sprayed through the night now glitters in the rosy-fingered dawn.