Counted On
young passengers on long car trips
would sometimes count birds
or fenceposts to fight off boredom
the mind making order
when it seemed there was only
order-making discontent
sunlight on heavy forest
on either side of a grey roadway
hills rising and falling away
sunlight making found-drab colors
vivid, cartoonish, entertaining
the young will be entertained
or make their own excitement
in a world yet unsorted
do birds and fenceposts have numbers
before we give them numbers?
one wonders out loud
his fellows give them letters instead
using the other most common order-herd
they trade off every few minutes
what can be counted on
is mid-morning sunlight
freshening a great air-ocean
whose invisible waves ride over us
brushing our faces with their sleeves
cheering at us through the car windows
like fans running alongside a celebrity’s motorcade
waves breathlessly new pleading to be counted
The Dog Star 
Leave a Reply