wait

Slatted sun
striping
the floor the cat

wheezing
in sleepiness
lilac sweet

purple antique
curling through
window

through a diff
erent
window the sun

pinging
glass from wine-gold
to sun-blaze

sudden darkness
upstairs the
cat sleeps

against me
as I
sleep waiting for

string

She wondered
what
to do
with
the moment
stretched
to
almost
breaking

a guitar string
tuned to
some im
possible
pitch

vibrating
to each
pluck
word
look
thought--

Extend a
fingertip
to show
where it
is? Flick
it with
a finger
nail to hear
its note?

Or simply
snatch it
clean
from the air
as if
it were
webby
silk
and rub
it to nothing
ness
between
her palms?

this

A finger
might
run
the length
of
her nose
catch
at
her lower
lip stop
at
a scar a
freckle a
hand
cup
the side
of
her face
allow
the weight
of
her head
her chin
to rest
in
a palm
grip
her waist her
hip pull
her
closer
a voice
might
re
mind
her

soft

lee

that
she
is.

take

It examines
the clutter
of its nest--
piece
of pillow case
frayed
bottom half
of a photo
someone's smile
only
a snatch
of song lyric
few mere
measures
a wrinkled bit
of poetry--
each thing
now
a
pro
pri
ate ed
for some
thing
from some
one
else

It (glittery
eyes)
notes all
it holds
given
freely or
taken
in flight
or
merely
acquired
all
ready
(as if
no
thing of
the real
remained)
used
as bed
or
floor
or
a thing
to chink
the space
left
between twigs.

next

She gathers
her necessaries
in an
ti
ci
pa
tion:
kleenex
lip
stick a piece
of fruit
a note
on a sticky pad a
pencil and
a hard thing to write on
a child a
man and
a light jacket and
a woman and
a heavier jacket
somehow stuffed
into pockets
sleeves
crevices in
the couch
beneath
the seat
cushions
behind eye
lids
anywhere
she might
need a thing
for the next
visit or
meal or trip
or bout
of heat or
cold
for the un
certainty
of living
in the future.

ask

She moves from room
to room
asking questions
of the air of
the envelope
on the desk: who are
you? why
are you?

She expects
the precise
placement (of
curtains
twitching them
into place
locking
unlocking locking
again doors)
will charm
the stuff
of life into
sense.

She knows
she is the only
one who sees
the ghosts
she lives with
the ones
who wander
from room
to room who
will not
lock doors who
allow the curtains
to gap
who refuse
to answer or
not fast enough
where the envelope
is for
or
what
it is going.

shift

When
the light
hit it
just right
she saw
the keyboard
the N
the E the
S and
the A
the right shift
bar where
she could
almost
see
her thumb
print
having rubbed them
shiny
and smooth
Y the Q the {
and
the Z
still dull
waiting for
the bruise
of use the
proof
that she
had
been
there that some
one had
been there
like the cold window
full of
blank
in
visible
words I
love
you after
the steam
hit.

ride

She pedals hardly seeing red
yellow orange flowers smudge red
yellow cars broken glass
she swerves to miss
she remembers sneakers
peeled cedar bark high
above the yard terryclothcape
tied at her neck a frog
squished and dry a tiny bird beeping
in a shoebox the night
it died she
rides no hands
no feet
Xed
stretching up and out
riding
so fast
fingertips scrape doors lattice windows
toes
scuff loose gravel tree roots
broken curbs streetlights on
at dusk
marking to memory
to heart
these streets scraps music words
futurepastpresent all
rushing past her ears.

linen

Waking, she thought
she was dead
twisted
in damp cloth.
She lay
eyes shut, straining
to see
through her own skin.

The light inside
my tomb is red
she thinks. I am not
breathing; I am
not hearing; I am not needing
breath or sound—
I am light in my bones
waiting to be sifted
out
of some layer of earth
suspended
with all else that was
heavy above
but weightless
below.

The early sun bores
into her eyelids
eyes
her brain
awakens to twisted
damp linen
and she wonders
how she got here.

Song

Rings and strings
What use have I for these things?
Bells and carousels
I'd just be fooling myself . . .

The rest of life pales in significance
I'm looking for somebody with whom to dance

From "With Whom to Dance?," by Magnetic Fields

strum

In another room
head tilted his face
a blur of brightness
beneath the hanging light
he does not look up
at the hush of her slippers on the floor;
she squints to see
his mouth squeezed round
but only imagines
its shape beyond the light's
glare. When she closes
her eyes
she sees it
like a red thumbprint
behind her lid
tries to see more
than this fierce halo
finally fading as she
imagines him sitting
beside her
absent-mindedly
brushing
her ankle
with the backs of his fingers
as if strumming
a guitar.

snow

Sharp-edged
glittery
pocked and gray
seeping
into
its own hollows

skate

Snowbanks
walling the rink the skates
scraping
fighting
to keep her ankles firm
her nose cold but
her head arms fingers
toes warm the ice
hers
her people inside
occasionally
glancing out the kitchen
window at the daughter
who somehow knew
she was
a skater
good graceful beautiful

conversation in a car 3

As she turned up
the heat
U2 telling her
it was
a beautiful
day her heart her
head her groin her
breath short tight
shall
low twitchy
restless he turned
pushed
her hair
behind
her ear easy
quick
clumsy
so he could see
her face
he said
so everyone could see
how pretty
she was

conversation in a car 2

Before
the light
changed
she moved closer
and touched
the back of his neck
the way she thought
he liked it
with just
the tips
of her fingers she thought
about the jasmine
tea and something
else the way
he would have
gone home then
the way
he would have put
the key
into the door
the light
changing
as he walked
through.

gone

Tried
to see you
but you
were gone tried
to find you but
you were some
place else tried
to talk to
you
but you
couldn’t hear
saw you leave
the store, ran
to tell you
about
the blueberries but
you were
someone else

list

As she
wrote
(vegetables
voices
puddles
promises
books
butterflies
beer)
she hummed
a song
without words
out
of her head
and hands

last

He came
to her
as he had the first
time
years before
eyes wide
in the darkness
breathing her
in
out
in
his hands
saying she was
a beautiful
thing of glass
fragile
beneath
his fingers
swirling over
her edges
until
she vibrated
with
their
song

conversation in a car

As the light
changed and no
one noticed no
cars behind or in
front none to push
them along
or
to follow they
waited for
something
else
to happen a
flash or siren
or word
as one leaned
closer
to read
the silence
to maybe
learn why