Night Life in Fountain Square
Midnight passes. He sees the dance begin,
this pale young man, blue-haired, tattooed and pierced,
watching the doe and her small mottled fawn
with a possum, sprayed by the Fountain’s mist.
He marvels at the lean coyote, shy
gray shadow loping down the Avenue
by moonlight brighter than the urban sky.
The summer drought has drawn them now
toward rippling water to relieve their thirst.
This hip young man of the galleries, clubs,
and lofts, aware perhaps that he is blessed,
and just before his giddy wonder ebbs,
for the first time hears the rustle of trees,
and lifts his baffled face to feel the breeze.
Thomas Alan Orr writes and raises Flemish Giant rabbits on a farm in Shelby County, Indiana. His poems have appeared in The Sun, Hobo Camp Review, The Milk House, Twin Bill, and Northwest Indiana Literary Journal.