i have a friend who makes me look at things
up close
rocks dirt twigs
how they lie this way or that
not that i'm unobservant
i was never that
another friend points out angels
now i can't go out without staring up
and when the air curdles
begins to vibrate
i'm positive
a whole choir of angels is about to show up
i don't want perfection
or a state of continual bliss
i've heard they begin to smell
the moment they arrive
it's depth i want
to see the backs of things without
losing sight of their fronts
that gap between intention and effect
that space
the reason we go on trying
the reason we don't