Those footfalls on the stairs when the night shift went home，

    the sunlight fanning through the dinosaur's rib¹ cage

    the janitor's sneeze - we're asking questions

    we'd like to know more.

    The moth² in the clock tower at city hall，

    the 200th generation to sleep there - we may banner the story

    across page one. And in Metro³ we're leading

    with the yawn that traveled city council chambers⁴

    this morning， then slipped into the streets

    and wound through the city. The editorial page

    will decry⁵ the unaccountable boredom⁶

    that overtook everyone around three in the afternoon.

    Features praises the slowness of moonlight

    making its way around the house， staying

    an hour in each a chair， the inertia⁷

    of calendars not turned since winter.

    A watchman humming in the parking lot

    at Broad and Market - we have that -

    with a sidebar on the bronze glass

    of a whiskey bottle cracking into cheap jewels

    under his boots. A boy walking across the ball field

    an hour after the game - we're covering that silence.

    We have reporters working hard， we're getting

    to the bottom of all of it.