Outside the Library, Salem Civic Center

Nicole Taylor

A young woman
wades in the shallow pool
while using phone to ear.

A business man in a suit
walks across toward the Salem City Hall
and toward the main Salem Police Station.

Three girls swim near
the silvery base and
find a shiny penny
in the wishing well.

Two boys climb
the several stone pyramids
surrounding the fountain while
young mothers and grandmothers watch them.

Two librarian ladies sit
on a far bench reading
while a studious older lad sits nearby.

An origami maple leaf
floats ahead, before falling and
tossing everywhere.

I sit and write my Independence Day poem
on bench watching
this Saturn Fountain of water spray
between the stone pyramids and the people.

Read short stories
and poems

from Eugene's dispenser
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