Hawk
Be a creature whose one will is life.
Grosbeaks and buntings fuss around the feeder
Of one mind: to eat together and drop
Back into the trees. Be a leaf
Turning under wind, willing
To be shuffled and nosed by bees, no reason
Not to be known. Give over as moose
Does to largeness and smell or
Like the dogs to voice or the continuous
Nuanced alphabet the weasel’s long tail
Draws across the grass; lift on evening
Updraft, one eye on the ground, heart
Rising with the body, carried—
Hold the body hard.
Thirst
Her mother fasted and vanished
As will mine. A form of self-
Mummification, my grandmother
Lying as I last saw her, dried to sinew, flesh
Bruised with anger that would not stop
Marking her from inside. Many waters cannot
Quench love. Will, then. It cannot be accomplished
Impulsively. Before she began, she broke
Her hip, or hip
Broke under her
Small weight. Self losing
Itself falls into the hands of others
Meaning well. Eschew determinedly. Passing
Hunger, give up coffee. Last, surrender
The highball taken every evening
For seventy years. Love is better
Than wine, though even alone,
She put on lipstick. Water-starved, entered
Her swoon. For I am
Sick in love. Get one thing
Right: wet lips and tongue, do not
Swallow. It would be a personal assault
For someone to force water. Still, I would
Cause thee to drink of the juice
Of my pomegranate. What gets transmitted,
In what order. In truth I already sense
A bit of headache, cramp
Coming on. All ages may feel sudden
Head rushes, dizziness. The body swings
A hundred windows wide to blow in
Cold delirium. Brace. Self, I could be
Flooded, scoured by air. Ravished
My heart. Given
Lightness imagine flight.
Narrative
Outside my window
Leaves cling to their branches, all yellow’s
Colors, refusing to fly until they do. Where am I
But lost in a thicket of details, not knowing why
The red shoe lies on the carpet, its tongue
Lolling out, or whose back is vanishing
Out the side door. Is anyone home, I call
Into an empty room. Are you coming back?
Lunar Eclipse
Lying in bed your shadow moves. Lying
Thinking your shadow
Flies across the moon’s face. Say time
To rise. In the dark
Down here in brush and grass
Small bodies pulse. Almost awake. Say
Blink. Naked eye
Watches the moon vanish, but
Your cheap camera made
For talking keeps seeing
A singular shining orb, not
The giving way, showing
A black field. You
Are talking to yourself
Again. Why won’t you
Settle for your eyes, memory
Failing? Be a warm
Body without devices, watching
The lapsed moon darkly
Sail the hills. It’s too early to call
Anyone and you’ve nothing
Going. Ghost ship, shadow
Wolf, self-smudge. Since before
You were time you’ve felt
This way. Close your eyes
Then. I say Close your eyes.