War Sounds

And plays

On the stone sidewalk

He creates worlds

And wars

With chalk and steady outlines

He rips his jeans as he kneels on the pavement

His dirty knees

And dirty deeds

Are echoed in the mountain rumble

And in the smoke and smog

All he can hear are his war sounds

And a car door slam

And his mother's voice calling him inside for dinner

He abandons his chalk outline

Of a body as young as his own

And wanders through the smog

With War Sounds in his head

And a hunger in his belly