A stray cat purrs in the fireweed beside

my window. I pull my mint-green blanket

close to me, and listen to the open night,

my older brother quiet in his bed.

A Malamute growls in the neighbor’s yard,

rounding a corner, link by link, its chain

raking a shed as it lunges and barks

at a figure sitting in the garden.

The moon throws slanted shadows on the wall:

a hedge-apple tree bent in the wind,

caught under the wire of a telephone pole,

its branches spreading slowly like a hand

in silhouette.  It settles to stillness—

long, black fingers folding into a fist.