Poised
over Richard Stott Anderson’s
exquisite Japanese garden,
the collective backyards of five
old properties on Lark and Willett Streets,
is a hornets’ nest
of huge proportion.
No one knew it was there
until gale-force winds from Chicago
funneled east and tore off all the leaves.
Now, in the spotlight of the afternoon sun,
the nest gleams with the luster of pewter
and sometimes sways like a ponderous cannonball
from the two slender twigs it was built on.
Directly below,
in the raised rock garden,
some squirrels and Richard’s cat
gather and hunt
oblivious to the wind
which is gusting now to 20 knots
causing the hornets’ nest to rock
and circle wildly around on its tether
like a wrecking ball
when one target’s as good as another.