Three Poems

The Green Balloon
In Citadel Park,
the stalled balloon refuses
to climb across the trees
and from there take in
the rowers on the lake below,
all pulling away in time
with the accordion music:
the combusting of its gas,
loud as a school of drummers,
seems vanity and excess,
where every child
is attached to its own
floating toy balloon
that effortlessly discovers
the most convenient current
...