Overhanging Trees

Not a significant
frown in the crowd
but this is Lunggiland
where everyone has grown up fast
amid the rasping of long civilization.

Every joy here is
riding on a subtle shrug,
little expressions of doubt.
"So happy," they say,
"it makes me wonder."

I almost miss the naked dismay
so easy and frank,
cries on the street
that come from
a deadly climate.