whenever the doorbell rings, father says it’s broken. the outside world must be a quiet place to lose a baby. wow. the scratch on my memory makes me think we had a cat
or a mother
with time.
most babies here are born without a trigger finger.
but some
get through.
the spotlight
a dog
pushes
with its nose.
not yet death
but death’s
wheelchair.
a revised
stance
on angels
as recognized
by those
one has
not met.
she thought nothing
of the penis
shaped
bar
of soap, and nothing
of the boys
who’d no doubt
worked together
in close
quarters
to create
from their
gods
the ball
god
dropped, and still
nothing
of the note
in her locker
instructing her
on how
to take
a bath- not everything
takes the form
of a sickly
double
afraid
to meet
its match
it suggests
the email
of someone
I’ve lost.
certain symptoms
return
no results.
brother blames his bad back
on being
the bad
back
of a shaman.
illness
is the real
magic.
I saw my father
standing on a chair
waiting for god
to take him
for a walk.
I started sleepwalking
around the same time
I pretended
to sleepwalk.
there was this bible
one had to step on
to reach the phone.
the past
the one
event
a life
is known for
it is coming to an end but I am still very proud to have kept my hands from my eyes for so long. as for my ears, he hits me for letting them ring. I hear by example. I hear your father doesn’t need to look to know he’s been caught by his reflection. as a last act, I hold this baby over a rain puddle, the devil’s television.
even with her fingers in her ears, she can hear the toy horse whipped. if we don’t have food, we can’t pray. my father was hired for his quickness, his hands
to salt
the rain. grief is a guard dog from the permanent circus.
my daughter is seized by a dream to endure her mother’s preoccupation with death. while waiting for his pillow’s heart to stop, my son resolves to keep the mirror’s brain. that each might skip the parts I’ve memorized, I read to them from a room I’ve put on the spot. when we pray, we’ll pray we were here to the idea we are.
kingsoftrain 