THE  RENT

With the winds of summer, the heavens open
Revealing the stars, my future seen darkly
Through a swishing of leaves, rending curtains.
The park is a square block of exotic trees
Named and catalogued with bushes and flowers
Intermingled amongst the precision spokes
The paths connecting the center, symmetry
Of balanced elements, seat of authority.
Here lives an assortment of native folk
Iguanas, sloth, squirrels, green parrots
Swirl around the pylons of palms, chattering.
At night we all turn inward, meditating
Hearing some future hum, cooing stillness
Feeling the rise of December air blown
Surging and falling across once innocent seas.
A black Melpomene sky, holds constellations
In their order, dialing the zodiac, counting
My numbers, the lizard’s spines stand erect
The ground rolls with distant tremors, hearts
Alert, the unknown advances, standing firm
Prepared to cross some golden threshold.

c) Jan G. Otterstrom F.
    November 18, 2006
    Palmares, Costa Rica