light rain
the postman’s bike
outside the shop

winding road
a council worker paints
the S on LOW

island airport . . .
our baggage handler puts on 
his pilot’s cap

In between fillings
the dentist again
talks of his son

the house painter
   descending his ladder
      blue sky

community meeting
the priest adds up
his mileage claim

the bookshop owners
at their computers
—singing

Easter wedding
the chauffeur in a tangle
with the umbrella

man with the stop sign nothing to do   but spit

musician’s funeral
the organist’s
wrong chords

laughing gas
the dentist and I compare
our old draft numbers

after the op
my surgeon outside
studying the clouds

    slow day
 the barber cuts
    coupons

last thing Friday
the mechanic belts out
a Neil Diamond song

early closing
a waitress sits
in a circle of light

afternoon drizzle
the driving instructor
swaps sides

The gravedigger
staring out into space
then back at the grave

last persimmon
the real estate agent
suggests a lower price

summer’s end
a carnival worker tells me
about his life

stopping the postman—
each day fewer leaves
on the cherry tree

waist high in fog
the groundsman marks out
the football pitch

withering wind
the fence-builder pulls a nail
from his lips

speeding ticket
the cop in no hurry
to give it to me

late autumn
the rug-hooker works in
her last scrap of orange

winter mist
four gravediggers watch
a fifth dig

winter night
the chestnut vendor
in a cloud of steam

Christmas week—
the fishmonger’s face
expressionless

in gown and slippers
a surgeon pauses
with the racing page