after Justin Brice Guariglia’s
public art installation, Brooklyn
The traffic sign flashes
pointillistic messages
into the sloping night—
two boys speak softly
in Spanish, sitting
against the weighted base—
its signals, warnings:
CLIMATE CHANGE AT WORK,
VOTA ECO LOGICAMENTE,
HUMAN AGENDA AHEAD
—clouds mirror a feeble
urban glow in gray,
skyline a distant centipede
of luminescent scales, concealing
mown grass, delayed autumn, soft murmurs.
Published in the April 2021 issue: View Contents