Flat Roof

The roofers pry open the flat 
part of the roof, looking 

for water damage, soft 
beams underneath, open

seams through which the wind
shudders. Everyone longs for

a canopy to keep out rain,
shade the color of cool

afternoons. Ours is a bed
or a page open to the scrutiny

of the sky, the indecipherable
handwriting of birds. Not being

horizonless, it marks off the space
where we live out some of our days.