CENTRAL PARK, DECEMBER

5 4 Y C E N T R A L P A R K , D E C E M B E R B I L L C H R I S T O P H E R S E N Unfazed by fall’s raw and burnt sienna gouache: willow’s green fountain. ≤ Mud puddle: pond scum, half-submerged leaves, pigeon tracks, wobbling skyscrapers. ≤ A gale cleaves trees, boughs. Two long-tailed claims adjustors pick through the wreckage. ≤ Bare circuitry of oak, elm. How long before the maple blows a fuse? ≤ So cold the muzzled Doberman’s nostrils smoke. The locust’s harrowed bark. ≤ A warm front melts the hoarfrost on the tennis courts – autumn’s backhand smash. 5 5 R ≤ Beside the lake, a tossed pop-stick crawling with ants; Manhattan Island. ...