driving by
a construction vehicle rental place
there are maybe twenty
bucket crane trucks
with their booms
fully extended
in the air by the highway side
and some miracle happens
for in the rusty suburban sunset
the shadows of the cranes
stretch impossibly long
over the asphalt
and look like
strange steel flowers
with bucket blooms
I hate this part of town
all the warehouses
the loading docks
the idling semis
the endless stoplights
I hate this post industrial world
that sits atop
the ruins of some
murdered green perfection
I find it all so far
from beautiful
and yet accidentally
tonight
on the way home
from a dreaded drive
into the city
just past rush hour
the impossibility
of metal and paint
and diesel and doom
combines to make me smile