SUNSET VIEW OVER SUBURBAN SOMEWHERE
Our social metropolis, masquerading as a tropical paradise,
From behind a local building site, the sun’s orange anchorage,
Beckoning goodbye, trawling with it a navy blue sky,
Compelling a constellation of carefully sprinkled white lights,
Unfolding in silent theatre through the comb of branches and floral brushing,
As a cuddly domestic creature scampers swiftly underfoot with four furry feet rushing,
Unblooded by the far off yahoo of a bulmastif someone owns;
The knocking of neighbours’ doors, the ringing of friends’ phones.
The crickety-chirp of resident bugs, the wavering in the wind of native shrubs,
And constant mournful moaning of four-laned traffic trucks,
On concrete cracked years ago crossing the zebra somewhere near Tanzania,
A jumbo jet goes drilling through some primitive science fiction
Of terracotta pots in sub-divided lots on our suburban island.