And when you step into the clearing
 
there will be dancing. The unsteady moon, shaken
to ribbon; shimmering through regalia of clouds.

A buzzard mews, turns in the wind,
a faraway engine grumbles.

She doesn’t know what she is doing.
She chops and boils, snacks and sneezes, sits.
Classical radio plays, imbuing
the scene with comic dignity and wit.

Ivy thrives
despite dependency.
It hangs on, has its other day.

How much water did you have to drink this morning?
Did you sip your coffee without worrying
about its diuretic properties? Was it sunny
where you were?

I was cutlery left out in the rain, rusty
by morning, a side-slipping fiddlestick
desperate for music, starved for company.

Imagine waking up one day and discovering
that you are a horse. At first, you might not
believe it and think you are dreaming.

The leaves are growing out of
a harangue of loneliness
palms cupped I listen to silences
of winter or summers

Instead of Dying I’m Taking a Trip

to Kansas
where the light appears
as if walking through a gate
in the air