After a funeral, paperwork sits
at the end of desk rows. 

Undertakers pause to change 
suits before shift handover,

diesel engines flatten down 
places of rest. Glass, iron, gravel.

Machines know: cities grow 
in negative spaces, oil traces gift

buildings with signs of the cross. 
Gliding hawks operate traffic 

for clear passage. Night drops
its guard. Machines argue.

Power cuts add imagination 
to people's lives. So much for

ending day's work seeking dawn. 


© Maria Stadnicka, 2021. Published in Shearsman 129 & 130, October 2021.