Water Meters

As if some dam 
of inactivity 
broke
into our suburb: flurries
of hi-vis vests
plonked traffic cones 
round every corner, parted 
dead leaves to drill the paths 
and install this new
way of thinking (voiced
by one excited politician 
whose words
ran away with themselves:
'it doesn't just fall 
from the sky.') When roads 
quietened again we found
these countless bright slabs 
of fresh cement, an expensive 
sketch pad recording 
trodden leaves' eddying
from brown to ashy grey
perfectly in the wavy
swirl of a trowel.