3
A checkerboard of farms
Gives way to greeny disks
Less perfect for bright barns'
Sudden radar blips
And skinny tangent highways
That bisect golden sheaves
Count the country's blessings
[n lucky cloverleaves.
4
On midwest Sunday nights
The bare, bold parking lots
Of empty shopping malls
Wear only leopard spots.
So it seems the tiger
Has changed its stripes–
Or commerce here prefers
To choose its own disguise.
5
Manhattan gridlock's
Red and white glazes
Straighten its teeth
Like a set of braces.
A smile [ recognize–
Black bottom teeth, caries
Backli t by cavi ties
Full of actuaries-
But our nose wheel's skid
On Newark's hard tarmac
Brings me "down" again
Wi th the Trade-Centered Karnak
That sparkles and shimmers
Like a wet, half-full cup
Of words I should know
But still have
to
look up.
