Smells like hunger

“Smells like hunger”

the robins run red-breasted

in the jagged yet bending grass

the layered greens hide the food

for the children in the trees calling:

twi twi twi

chip chip chip

twiddle di twiddle di

they are hungry

the 1 bus hauls its heaviness

back to broad street

lugging the weight

of those who carry

the weight of children

who sit in wooden cribs

calling in another language

 but crying in consistency:

wah wah wah

eh eeeh ehhhhh

wah wah waaaahhh

they are hungry

the piercing pitches

the abstract shadows

of sound i cannot see

the sun, the heat, its rays

wrap rainbows around

the out-of-focus eyelashes

that protect me from this vision

the sweat of a barking stomach

slipping into emptiness

the plastic smell of fire pit

running its doused tongue along

the roof of its upper palette