Sunrise
A light mist diffuses its rays
Rabbits lap at the morning dew
Eagles circle overhead

Morning
Kids walking to school
Rabbits flee to the bushes
Eagles circle overhead

Women in designer sneakers
Walk designer dogs
Dogs stare intently at the bushes
Eagles circle overhead

Students in PE uniforms
Run here and there
Yelling, chasing *****
Eagles circle overhead

Riding mower screams near bushes
Spraying grass and debris
Terrified rabbits flee the mower’s roar
Eagles plunge downward

Aerie rests upon outfield lightstand
Eaglets screech, mouths agape
Mother rips warm meat from a tiny carcass
Her children will live another day

Noon
Students sit here and there
Eating, laughing, smoking
They leave trash in their wake
The rats are lucky the eagles have eaten
The sky is bright blue overhead

Students in PE uniforms
Run here and there
Yelling, chasing *****
The sky is bright blue overhead

Kids walking home
Individually and in small groups
They ignore the trash
They do not see the rats
Puffy clouds float by overhead

An old Mexican man with a sad demeanor
Walks the field
He picks up the trash with gloved hands
The sun beats down upon his head

Boys in cleats occupy the field
Mouths full of seeds
Moving in choreographed actions
The sky is filled with grayish white spheres
For awhile

Dusk
The field’s lights blink on
Accompanied by a faint fluorescent hum
The eagles are not disturbed
The bright bulbs warm their nest
The sky is cobalt and pink

Groups of uniformed boys run on and off of the field
Spectators’ cheers  punctuate their actions
The eagles sleep peacefully
The sky is obscured by bright lights

Night
A trim Caucasian man moves a heavy switch downward
One by one the lights go dim, silent, off
The last lights are his truck’s headlights beaming across the infield
A crescent moon is visible overhead

Deer and coyotes play deadly hide and seek during the night
The deer seeking sweet flowers and grass
The coyotes seeking the deer
The moon and stars glow brightly overhead

Sunrise
The sun peeks above the horizon
Warm hues of yellow and orange
Songbirds wake to announce the day
Eagles circle overhead

Now:
The EMTs respond.
A Jane Doe is found dead.
Beneath the I-90 overpass.
They lift her
Zip her into a bag,
And transport her to the morgue.
They can’t feel sad.

Today:
The few wispy strands of hair that remain
Dangle haphazardly from her scabby head
Jagged misshapen teeth protrude from dry cracked lips
betraying breath that stinks of infection and decomposition
Vermin gnaw on exposed flesh while parasites feast within.
Her eyes dim as her body putrifies.

Last Week:
Mission workers prop her up against the wobbly chain link fence
A thin blanket is wrapped around her bony shoulders and
Her blue-tarp awning is adjusted
She would be less wet and cold.
For a night.
They leave a cheese sandwich and chicken noodle soup.
The rats eat most of it.
She wouldn’t have kept it down anyway.

Last Month:
The shelter is scary and dangerous.
She couldn’t sleep without nightmares and her screaming disrupted other ‘guests’.
The shelter workers apologize and put her out at 2:19 AM.
She finds a spot between two dumpsters.
It reeks of **** but is unoccupied.
Sometime in the dark she is ***** and beaten by two crackheads.
The crime is unreported.

Last Year:
The fluorescent lights sting her eyes.
The antiseptic smell burns her nose.
The noise and chaos that surround her make her dizzy and disoriented.
She fights hard to get away but is restrained by strong hands – then leather straps.
A painful jab in her arm and then nothing.
Days or weeks later she emerges in a haze.
Kindly eyes greet her.
They stay with her.
They accompany her to the shelter.
They tell her to come back for follow-on care.
She never sees them again.

Before:
The divorce rips her heart in two.
She has nothing.
She is nothing.
Her world crumbles beneath her and she crumbles with it.
Where would she go?
What would she do?
Everything has become so wrong.

Once Upon a Time:
She was happy. Joyful.
Filled with life and hope.
He was smart, funny, successful.
Together they were magical.
Perfect.

In a moment, the news.
Until then, we'll turn to the nation's capitol and have a word with...
Condescending self-important motormouths
Narcissistic bloviating gas bags
Useless over-coiffed talking heads
Disingenuous glad-handing power seekers
Smarmy bootlicking Ivy League backstabbers
Government funded flatulating wind turbines
Spit shined Armani wearing handout seekers
Grudge holding influential bureaucratic petty tyrants
Overworked browbeaten ladder climbers
And, if we can find them, a few nonpolitical working Americans.

"Hello?"
Click
Her voice sounds the same.
After 35 years, nothing has changed.
She is still 19 and I am still 22.
There have been no marriages or divorces.
No kids, dogs, or houses.
There are no commitments or inhibitions.
There is only that perfect wonderland called young love.

Sebastian quivered as he made his report.
Science - We did quiz. I 102 percent
History - We did read chapter. I finish first and wrote answers to questions. All correct.
English - We did grammar lesson. Adjectives. Describe words. No grading.
Sebastian hesitated, just slightly, and his father exploded.
Mathematics! Report Mathematics! Show Me!
Tears streaming. Hands trembling.
Sebastian removed the math papers from his tiny Hello Kitty backpack.
97 percent. Not perfect. Not the best in class.
The rest is unrepeatable.
Humiliation is much worse in Mandarin.

Sometimes the fear of living
Felt to me too much to bear
I was drowning in reality
My suffering seemed unfair

I could not understand it
I replayed every scene
Deep into my dark nightmares
All my ifs and might have beens

I turned over but one question
Where had it all gone wrong
Nothing quite made sense to me
Like some discordant song

The winds of shame were blowing
Carrying autumn leaves of pain
Raining down tears of heartbreak
I made the same mistakes again

Blind to all life's goodness
I discarded happy thoughts
I learned well the lessons
That my misery had taught

Sinking in my addictions
Numbed without control
I could not fight my demons
So I let them take my soul

The woman known as Mom hummed contentedly.
The kitchen smelled delicious.
Eggs, toast, juice and what was that, pork chops?
For Breakfast?
An unexpected, delightful treat.

Unaccustomed to cheer, the children entered cautiously.
Looking toward the wall
They saw the hook.
But the belt
The wide leather belt
Was missing

Was that good or bad?

The children took their seats.
The woman known as Mom
Slid their plates into place and urged them to "Eat Up"
Lest their delicious meal get cold.

One careful bite.
A swallow.
Pause....Pause....Pause
No slaps. No hits. No belt.
The children gobbled furiously
Racing to finish
Before she changed her mind.