Tom the Gator-Fiend, professor emeritus of medieval studies, was the first person to notice how the gators threatened to break free in search of sustenance. Over weeks of daily bird-watching, he noticed a sharp decline in the numbers of brown thrashers and tufted titmice. . .

I mostly think I’m tethered to those sidewalks, and those cracks form an autobiography where the roses figure the concrete. I get weak knees thinking of who transfigures what and will we still live to see the rain? Look how long the days are. . .

At night you hear it again, the thunder breaking the sky, the sky flinging complicated rain against the glass windows, threatening to come in. . .