AFRICA

Broad, baked wind plains, immense grass sprawl.

Umbrella Thornes spreading shade, branches wide.

Speed slaked cheetahs lick their spots beneath the tree,

spying on gazelles grazing fearlessly in open light.

Lazy sleep heat shimmers far like cooling waves

before the leopard’s padded paws return, bringing night.

EUROPE

Rain drums on car roofs, wetting night.

Pushed past ticket booths, a tuxedoed sprawl.

Gold glint bracelets, silk dresses, perfume, and waves—

tuning violins scratching notes, and mellow horns. A wide

noise that spills to outside streets, along with light,

illuminating art to a single rain-soaked tree.

ASIA

Dizzy, above the tallest tree

for miles around, too white for the night.

A backpacked climber squints against blinding light,

crunching up ice sparked carpet flung along the mountain sprawl.

A sting of white lands on his beard. He looks wide—

steps up the final ridge, raises his right hand, and waves.

AUSTRALIA

Salt spray surf and warm white-crest waves.

Hair whipped in her face, she grips the sail tree,

turning toward the opera house, canvas wide

of the nearest pier. Her yellow sail with the purple knight

turns again, driving her before the wind sprawl.

On the dock, her retriever waits patiently till last light.

SOUTH AMERICA

Breathing hard, he stops the ball. Light

on his feet, he weaves left, stops, and waves

to Lara, then cuts into the player sprawl.

Foot—clear. Neymar boy—clear. But this player—big as a… tree!

Into the air, head to ball: this is his night…

Is it…GOL! He shrieks in triumph, his smile wide.

NORTH AMERICA

Light-spread, the city opened wide.

An ochre bridge, a strand of dark and light.

Car horns muffled by windy gusts in the night.

Saxaphone. Chatter. Couple talking cheesecake while the waves

smack the wharf. A runner ghosts by a fenced tree.

A restless city yawns, welcoming night to its sprawl.

~~~

From hallelujahs high above and majesty like waves,

To earthy dust—ruling from the tree:

the King upholds creation’s mottled sprawl.