The Sound of a Fountain in Mexico City

“The Sound of a Fountain in Mexico City” was published in the Common Ground.

Pigeons flap
through the chemical haze struggling
for elevation

a girl’s shriek, horn blast or
Bedlam at the Gate of Lions
sparked the exodus

Chapultepec.
Concrete ensconces the soft ground like a corset
the alien form of the mushroom fountain
drips and seethes

I sit at the transom
cleaved open by the sound of running water

Tizoc’s legions once streamed
across this red earth
soft padding of a thousand feet
insects buzzing like wood saws in the green gold air

I sit in a hanging chair
drinking coffee as ever
air plants cling to branches

“And all times are one time”
the old pulse still quickens
blood still iron and salt