Death Gets into the Suburbs

It sweats into the tongue and groove

of redwood decks with a Tahoe view.

It slides under the truck where some knuckles

are getting banged up on a stuck nut.

It whirls in the egg whites. Among blacks

and whites spread evenly. Inside the chicken

factory, the Falcon 7x, and under the bridge.

There’s death by taxi, by blood clot, by slippery rug.

Death by oops and flood, by drone and gun.

Death with honor derides death without.

Realpolitik and offshore accounts

are erased like a thumb drive lost in a fire.

And the friendly crow sets out walnuts to pop under tires.

So let’s walk the ruins, let’s walk along the ocean

and listen to death’s undying devotion.