Where there’s smoke
there are mirrors

and a dry ice machine,
industrial quality fans.

If I’ve learned anything
about the present moment
 •

But who doesn’t
love a flame,

the way one leaps
into being

full-fledged,
then leans over

to chat
 •

Already the light
is retrospective,
sourceless,

is losing itself
though the trees
are clearly limned.

Strand. String.
In this dream,

the paths cross
and cross again.

They are spelling
a real boy

out of repetition.
 •

Each one
is the one

real boy.

Each knows
he must be

wrong
about this, but

he can’t feel
how.
 •

The fish
and the fisherman,

the pilot,
the princess,

the fireman and
the ones on fire.

not back, let’s not come back, let’s go by the speed of 
queer zest & stay up 
there & get ourselves a little 
moon cottage (so pretty), then start a moon garden 

with lots of moon veggies (so healthy), i mean 
i was already moonlighting 
as...

Some women make a pilgrimage to visit it
in the Indiana library charged to keep it safe.

I didn’t drive to it; I dreamed it, the thick braid
roped over my hands, heavier than lead.

My own hair was long for years.
Then I became...

We've always been out looking for answers,
telling stories about ourselves,
searching for connection, choosing
to send out Stravinsky and whale song,
which, in translation, might very well be
our undoing instead of a welcome.

We launch satellites, probes, telescopes
unfolding like origami, navigating
geomagnetic storms, major disruptions.
Rovers...

The tide ebbs and reveals orange and purple sea stars.
I have no theory of radiance,

                but after rain evaporates
off pine needles, the needles glisten.

In the courtyard, we spot the rising shell of a moon,
and,...

Mommy always wanted
To be famous

She would have us (my sister and me)
Sing
In all the talent shows
But I could not carry the harmony
Then she had me
Sing
Alone
Though The Isley Brothers
Always won
Ronald’s sweet voice and Vernon
Doing “the Itch”
Sort of like Michael Jackson
Doing “the...

my dead grandmother’s young
             Japanese maple was uprooted     stolen
                         last week       scattered leaves crushed

under a stranger’s foot. to recover
     ...