Discovery, 1992

There was a brother
and a sister and a brother’s
friend all beneath a trampoline,
and jets of water
from a sprinkler shot
straight into the air
thick drops streaming
down through the black
canvas, a rainforest

in some small way.
All three of them lost
in the wet tension
between cold ground
and groaning springs
and a constant patter
above their heads.
Nobody watching
in a fenced backyard

in the middle of America
in the middle of July,
Mom making tuna
sandwiches and slicing
sweet fruit into a bowl
at the kitchen counter.