Of the Particular Noises in a City

A city music, tone-spun
inside every tree trunk, under
the parkway, above the streets

resounding like the chanting
woman here in the bus shelter,
a drum in a world of sirens.

The overhead stoplights
in-tune with her shoulder sway
wait, stop, hesitation, go

beyond the space where breath is
held, the collective rhythms,
whistle, bell, tree leaf, drone

telling us that without sound
imagination has no weight.
I take up the day believing.