Poetry Vending Machine

Analog Artist Digital World

Sometimes a sketch

is all you get

a flashbulb freeze-frame image

at the stop light dams

in the river of rush hour,

the elevator climb,

the go-getters

raising their cell phones in an endless salute.

and meanwhile

down in the grass

with the grace of the snakes,

there are dancers

making angels with no need for snow

singers

following the wispy string of their voice

as the sun pulls it free

there are people

stopping in the street

against all odds

waiting on a cloud

to match that shape of their dreams.

Let the management speak

of community,

hammer those ends with gavels

mark off the moments,

The deadline of the eye is stricter still.

Sometimes a sketch

is all you get

and if you look in the right place,

all you need.

-Tod Caviness