Desiderata

                    Sphinx of downtown 

  Bakersfield 

      laying in wait 

 for the servants of cash

       stillness born 

 from suffering twenty hour days

hands still holding the map and a
wet box of safety matches

-catch as catch can- you say 

    but the animals

  are fighting in their sleep

        a Siamese cat has awoken

      the mice could hold steady
 Desiderata sighs
  "the shit I gotta put
with"