Shifted out of Time

I thought my city shifted out of time this morning,
I saw no faces I knew on the usual bus.
The sky had tipped and tilted over toward storming

and all I saw was new faces on the usual bus
riding toward downtown with half-awake and vacant
expressions. I felt strange to myself. All of us

riding toward downtown, half awake, leaving vacancies
in warm beds and at breakfast tables, came together
in silence, overlooking our mutual vagrancy

from warm beds and breakfast tables. We came together,
a collection of strangers randomly assembled
with nothing in common but the world's uncertain weather.

A collection of strangers, randomly assembled--
well, that describes many teams forged for terrible purposes
like the guys who built the bomb. But we didn't resemble

a team forged to execute some terrible purposes
under a sky full of portents and storm-warning.
More like a shifting heap of windswept debris
I thought, as my city shifted back into time this morning.

Collection available! Knocking from Inside