The city cat perches
on the city backyard fence
still ogling the squirrel
who makes himself dizzy
scurrying around
the trunk of the gingko tree.

The gingko drops
thousands of seeds
and hundreds of futile seeds
will latch into the city backyard
while the other hundreds
and hundreds perfume
the neighbor’s yard with
their dog vomit declaration.

An unorganized chess match
of nothing but bishops
underneath the grand shadow
of one mighty gingko
long since given up the outrage
persevering for decades
in this city backyard behind
a neglected city house.

The squirrel scurries on
drunk on inertia
ignoring the seed bombs
and the helicopter foster parents in blue
and the foul-mouthed rat,
no longer bemused
at neglected city houses.

This city aches with defiance
of asphalt and concrete.
It aches with three kinds of defiance—
neglect, outrage, inertia.

It aches. It defies.

This city deifies its aches.

Douglas William Garcia Mowbray