At the refreshments stand,
a boy throws out his hands
as if to feed the starlings
but really he throws nothing –
it’s just to watch them jump.
See the people coming,
lumbering over the grass
to squeeze into plastic chairs,
near the memorials to Vietnam and Lincoln.
Three notes, a bugle call –
a black man in overalls
arrives to empty the trash,
hauls it to a metal hatch,
a doorway opens up
to the underworld.
The boy throws empty hands –
the starlings jump,
near the memorials to Vietnam and Lincoln.