weekending

at the poolside, on a damp-edged pad,
the pastel, fat in my hand,
stammered out the edge between sky and subject.

the sky’s blue was new to me,
or one I had forgotten.
flat and pure,
ultra and marine.

it lensed; I burned.
in the beam, in slow drips, my hand remembered.

earlier—

for my crimes upon it,
the bed flogged me sore.
when I woke,
I assumed animal shapes:
dog, cat, crow, cow.

all I do is pose.

(all acts are exercises,
done to be done again.
once is never;
I live now; I die forever;
I am the rut in the Roman road;
I am the cool shadow of evaporated dew.)

earlier—

we clumped about the little screen
and named strangers made beloved in memory.

a faux killer danced on the big screen
as we pitted cherries in our red mouths.

earlier—

a dinner of the riches of the earth,
of meat swaddling bone,
of skin, flesh, and stone.

earlier—

the door was open, and I tumbled in.