Thinking of Work A brief storm blew the earth clean. There was much to do: sun to put up, clouds to put out, blue to install, limbs to remove, grass to implant. (The grass failed. We ordered new grass.) A limb cracked in half in the short storm, short with its feeling. We saw its innards, all the hollow places. Something flew out of the window and then the window flew out of the window. Sun Can't Set We had considered what was said, and how long it had never been heard.

Now, when we're beyond credulity, can we insist on knowing what is true. Would that I were believed, shadowed by others to see which beliefs were mine. The walk of a stranger, movements of the earth are no longer believable. It's the act that matters: less the hydrant, red solid, quiet with water, more the belief in believing, the faith we have even in reason, a partial tree. Birthmark'd Face 1 One rain begins to stop, its echoes still falling from the winded leaves. 2 One street owes itself to another street, one tree owes another. 3 One accident runs deep inside me, carries my organs in a sack. The Second Comedian 1 It's humid; "it" being the weather now.

But no, it's cool because of the window and the late rain outside, the colder air being inside where it's not humid, today. Box of sleep. ‘Times I can feel my own stupidity. 2 He sent me a letter in which multiple disappointments were spelled out correctly. All his guests were dismissed as people whom merely did not want to be alone. Knowing that I will never see that man ever again kind of messes with my head. I've never believed in grammar as debris. There's an old saying: there's an old saying.

Plato's Balls 1 The foundation of my home required braces and poured concrete, measurements that preceded me. 2 It was one of those a priori kinds of things, when you know what you're not supposed to do before you go ahead and do it. 3 I'm a spokesman for the dictionary. I heard you say something recently, and I want to make it permanent. Three-Night Stand Dream of a skinned-alive tiger, its flesh gleaming, stepping inside an ill-fitting tiger suit, one foot not fully in its foot. Chalk Remarks This was an opportunity for him to explain what we were feeling: he had the podium of our minds, so to speak, but he was nervous about the material, putting his hand on my arm many times, as if both to reassure and to control me. It behooved some of us to be gracious, yet it was apparent to me that we needed to reform the animal. (Her potential lover sat between us.

) I've been accused of committing a crime against myself, and this fellow's claiming that he couldn't be here tonight. I left and found him on the corner, absorbed in his own collapse on the pavement. Sky's moving away. Ambulance Man It was evening, cold with hoarfrost. I didn't have much to say for a while. The securities of the moment were not trivial, but ancient and life-sustaining, and we could agree when the van took over an hour to leave, one glassed-in shop after another. We had awaited the arrival of a larger vessel, expansive enough to board without argument. The calamity was calming for a while, or rather, it opened the possibilities of finding solace in a winter blaze: one complete thought or original idea that would be enough for a few days.

Poem A quarter made visible. It awoke on the table. It shone. Some of the least of us didn't appreciate the maximalist position. Excess wasn't enough for us. We sought a complex path between two trees. One of the missing passengers came to us for a glass of water. We pointed out the window to the lake ahead, said wait a bit.