Explosions outside —
Fourth of July weekend
but that’s nothing new,
there’s always a big bang
at least once a night — the signal
of a new universe,
perhaps?  Makes sense —
who’s not looking for a new one
these days?   I know that after
each sharp report
I wait in vain for a fresh planet
to soar past my window, and
blowing something up
to get one seems
more and more attractive. 

The dangerous people
stare out of doorways
at the safe people

on the streets
the safe people
call their own.

In some streets
they switch places. That’s how
we keep everything running:

call it a safety valve. Call it
the social order.  The dangerous ones
get to be the source of safety

in their own neighborhoods.
The safe ones get
everything else.

Sometimes
a safe one will love
a dangerous one.  They

keep this to themselves;
it softens things.  It makes
the streets sodden

and uncomfortable.  That’s
how we re-allocate the streets
from time to time: when a street

gets too sodden, it changes hands.
Another is chosen
to replace it, everything goes back

to normal, with the dangerous ones
in their doorways staring out
at the safe ones

until
someone in love with the Other
cracks it and the flooding starts.