I turned the assemblage upside down,
positioned the gusset flush with the rabbit.
Folded the lower hanging end up and right,
forming what would be the front of the bow.
Did the full left turn past 8 to stop at
34. Used caution with contents under pressure.
Softened the butter. Inserted and adhered.
Called and culled. Meandered buggish upon
the clinquant plain. Misconceived, re-
convened. Arrived at the gates one hour
before departure. Splintered pencils.
Deadheaded cosmos. Flattened leaves
in a book identifying leaves. Held
the bucket. Memorized and forgot
amino acid configurations, French vocabulary,
directions from Chicago to Peoria, the generals
of The Illiad and where they came from.
Who survived. One wishes to avoid the sense
of being trapped inside a plastic garbage sack
although the sense of breaking out
may be cathartic. The tears so blue,
you palpate like an asteroid. You start things
and it’s difficult to end them
like an affair that begins with the simple
desire to see a magnificent body naked
but then achieves the consistency of sap.
Alternately, you start things
and it’s difficult to keep them going
like an affair that begins with the simple
desire to see a magnificent disrobing but
then deepens like the color of clothing
wet with rain. Rain after months of no rain
and the desert blooms. As if there was no such thing
as a simple desire. One is not likely
to forget or, for a while, be able
to drink even a glass of orange juice without
pain. One shops for a new fish for the aquarium,
tries not to go only to the same places.
The novel progresses until thunk—parts
six seven eight. The horse trots over
to the gate, accepts your proffered
weeds. One tries not to be a ghost
even if that means wearing at sunset a red hat.
Being impossible with waitresses. Not signalling.
Still, one tries to go on making, following
instructions. It is best to assemble first
without glue as practice, then disassemble,
glue and reassemble but who has patience
for that? One fucks up and regrets but
sometimes not too terribly because they’ve
included extra screw blocks, extra screws.
Plethoras of putties. Everyone will understand
why you arrive so late, so barehanded.
The swans are back on the lake.