name names except slippery sod of Swinburne’s skipping /
that’s slicing birthday cake and taking all but the first stab/
whose stomach is so large to ask for repeats of history? /
my mouth holds more that your mouth /
what rings true outside the building is as long as the throat /
it’s the hand that grasps everything no one understands /
this is no longer news for day or night
the apple blossoms are still small bellows of white /
veiled by the gauzy grey of wildfire smoke /
not allowing the day to begin /
smothering it back down with our half-breaths /
the petals fall like jaw-dropped tongues /
their bright shade dimming /
aghast at what we have done each day
careful, that sun burns /
beeswax for eyes, if you can locate it /
a generation training for its stoop /
some ones combined in a room /
are nearing a sum /
we’re included in the count /
other than ones suspected so /
though the calculation is denied /
with a morning bout of confidence /
not I is 1 /
the first number left an accumulating cleave /
shearing millimetres off of icebergs
test ice /
with nail clippings /
as footholds /
believe being right-side-up /
is on this street /
restless for another planet /
to prove us wayward /
let’s not take gravity /
as our cue /
feet must be for some /
other reason /
what falls lightly is misread /
hair on shoulder is /
a death sentence misfiled /
by administrators /
pull and pull on the loose thread /
hanging from horizon’s close
bruise for fruit /
bruise for flesh /
in the ear of the thing /
sit quietly, ask /
muddied tissue bows slightly /
as a soiled river underneath skins /
while we here blemish /
the stain goes out of day /
passing colour /
we lend a name
there is a black light /
that turns teeth as white /
as a blinding concussion /
moment where the brain /
shivers in the sudden draft of impact /
the black light reveals /
shades pressed into the background /
like hieroglyphs on a mall wall /
tripping up seniors in their repeated day /
the black light opens the room divider /
redrawing patterns stretched low and long, /
on the body scarred by it own machine /
there are a few who can afford to pass down pain /
practice a laugh
there is fire and there is fire /
the difference is in tracking /
down the source of the flame /
in this trickling southward body /
did it spin the spiked wheel in /
a flurry of threads /
dyed in border colours? /
did it reshape the torso /
secured by the vatican /
but allowed to slip away daily /
did it erase the fingerprints /
of a child so none would /
ever recognize them amongst /
their own igniting on an /
embered foot path ahead into the waiting years
the road leads to the accident /
all signs point to an /
engine block driving through the chest /
that advantage of a tiny thousand suns /
in the dark eventually circles back /
sitting on the torso at /
2 am waiting for its /
third act entry /
spiking the plot /
weighting the dream down /
to the hobbled rhythm of the lungs
popular belief: /
1. worms exhale at our birth and inhale at our death /
2. the sun is only as large as we see it, a golf ball struck billons of years ago /
3. the wealthiest among us have the shortest large intestine /
4. humans forget how to swim when they are born /
5. electricity consists of tiny hand gestures that copper understands /
6. the weather was already written in the 14th century on the longest scroll /
7. if we never opened our mouths, the days would increase by an hour each month /
8. flight is caused by the friction between national borders /
9. fish can reverse time by swimming backwards /
10. money was the first magician’s trick
what can it be this new thing /
if it only took up space in the garage /
or crowded out native species in the garden /
but it is here knowing its now /
digging tiny little holes in the distance
between to and be /
how to push it over the side /
with five-fingered hands only /
wait for the roar of the falls at the end credits /
to press it into stamp-size passing