The Slow-Cooked Sentence

Outside my window a small tree bends in the wind. A crow alights in the yard where the marigolds glow like embers against the wet dirt. Across the street a house is suspended in air as a basement is dug beneath it. I collect the owner’s unwanted bricks to line my garden. I’ve dug up the geraniums to take them indoors, which smells smokey from the weekend’s fire. Rain falls inside my home. I kneel beside the hearth and watch drops of water sink into the ashes.