Day 2,901

No mapping
exercise, no
diapason, geometric
shape speaking to me
while I sleep

will bring him back. No
longer in medias res, he
took the wrong detour
and never recovered
his footing.

Georgia One Revisited

To confuse sense
of place with your lap, accidental

falls with the truth
as it comes out when

I’m asleep is to reenter
those dreams I forget.

Sculpture Garden

I see a rainbow reflection on the cherry
spoon of its own making—fountain’s
mist. Sun’s been shining
all day. And I know
I can break
my own heart.

epicurns.com

A first floor cremation
urn gallery comes to me

in a dream
where I’m riding east—

a river crosser, muse
lover—lusting for a guardian

angel who can’t be
touched. Live human flesh

before me, he must remain
straight ahead, slightly

elevated—never false.

Gro

For Steve

I believe—I don’t
know when—I believe
I will come to accept the world

without you in it. Not there
yet. Nightly haunting of our nightly haunts
awakens me

to these sad refusals and you
not there.

Unnatural Causes

To identify where
it all went wrong, when
isolation became a drug
as potent as anything

ingested, when ingesting
became impossible

is
to pretend to be
some kind of god
with flame-retardant wings.

Road Restless

Between trips, she tires
of the asking trees.
Exhausted by the ones without
brilliantly hued questions, the ones
that taunt with a humming
constant in the wind—home is

not the answer
every time, everywhere.

Vox Teardrop

For Steve

Taken from the vault,
it gets warbled, deeper, slurred
when the batteries inside begin to rot
and seep. Recorded

on the west bank
of the Saint Croix River before I knew
what that meant, our conversation
was my monologue—became yours—then

it just stopped.

Last Night

For Steve

I can’t find you
on the northwest side
of this urban courtyard

without knowing true
north or any other kind
of truth—save you
are too soon gone.