Today I miss Northampton.

Paradise City

Tough to gauge which moves
Quicker: clouds, or our blue planet
As it rounds on the next instant.
The velocity I experienced
Seated on a park bench was
Scarcely enough even to ruffle
My windbreaker. Dropouts
Were kicking Hacky Sack in
Front of General Pulaski's
Plaque at lunchtime (though
"Dropout" might be dead
Coinage), if they were really
Dropouts at all, and not just
Idle rich kids who'd swapped
Clothes in a Goodwill box. That
Would be unacceptable. My
Sandwich was gone. The faithful
Poured out of the Church of Body
Modification as a good gust
From Canada unparted the minister's
Hair. Something was hooked
In her eyebrow, something feathery,
Suspicious, like a fishing lure.
I was alone and needed a plan.

-- James Haug