Urbana # 6, Richard Diebenkorn

On Diebenkorn’s black carpet,
legless shoes trot past
a waterfall that soaks
the shag with its second cascade
dropping underground, and contours
of the sandy scape create
a desert-wise attempt to tie up
loose odds and ends
while a ship sails by without an ocean
and a purple sock
could be a cat’s tail flickering.
Hardly a spot to sit and rest
as the yellow burns its square head through
the floor despite red spatters
that cry quietly for help.
Meager attempts to tidy up
the tiled room corner
end in a tilted broom
handle and a dash off to the right:
the green canoe cast out to sea.