Hour 24–Too Much Darkness for Light

I’d need a miner’s light strapped to my tired head to see out that window

or that

or that

I’ll rely on the kitty marowing

to let me know the change in the weather or his kitty mood

fluctuating moment by moment

I can say there’s a moon out there

I have not the strength to stand up

only one last burst for bed

then my head be dead on the bed

Nite nite, all.

Hour 20–Contact

I clipped my nails

outside on the patio

as was my practice

where flagstone would catch them

and dust to dust

would return to the earth

some of my molecules

preceding the larger wholeness of me

 

I brushed my jeans

checked my shoes

and saw them

moving

ants in a line

carrying my nail

precious gift from the sky god

tusk-like crescent to their tiny frames

ants lifting

succeeding

moving

coordinated

toward a crack in the flagstone

soon to descend into

Ant-land

my fingernail

cast away

to be revered

treasured raw material

to be made use of

for what I leave behind

to be made use of

is all that I can ask

 

 

Hour 19–Final Touch

Titanium in orbit

won’t withstand reentry

a wrench lost is gone

tumbling

slowing

tipping

surrendering

a meteor now

launched by my glove

watch from on high

like the angels

 

 

Hour 18–At the Circus

It was a public hallway

at the Westchester County Center

surrounding the arena

hosting the circus

Must have been an intermission

For the boy to be there

and see

a clown in full make-up and outfit smoking

into the pay phone

and hear the voice

of an everyday adult

arguing about money

the elastic holding his strawberry nose in place

plainly visible

 

Hour 17–KSR

I don’t have the polite eulogy

in my memory bank

others seem to expect

I could remember the good times

if I could remember the good times

I can’t think of him without judgement

without his skulking exit

from an island long dead

I simply don’t know

how much of him was real

ambiguity sits quietly like a Buddha

and the truth is

I don’t need to know

 

 

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