Number 27

The Butterfly and the Clock

a butterfly
floating
in light-laden air

comes to a clock
and touches
each of the numbers on its dial

leaving behind
motes of powdered time

the clock fans the air
with its wooden wings
while the butterfly
tears up the clock's
brown shadow

waiting for a moment
until the old spring
starts to unwind
evenly again

Number 26

Nobody Knows the Sick


nobody knows
the sick

illness changes
their names

they're waiting
but you can't find them

Number 25

In the Room

He slipped two fingers
between the slats
of the Venetian blinds
and let a wan slice
of autumn light
into the room*

She poked two fingers
through the screen
on the bedroom window
and let a quarter pound
of mosquitoes
into the room

He tore six inches
of wallpaper
from the hall closet
thereby releasing
a puff of air
two decades old
into the room

She raised her skirt
and curtsied
to the old refrigerator
whose sudden heat
swung open its porcelain door
letting gleeful vegetables tumble
into the room

* The first stanza is lifted from Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (New York: Picador, 2000), p.225.

Number 24

After Jules Renard

If I were a bird
I would sleep
in a cloud
where I wasn't allowed

If I were a bird
I would rest
right there
in the air 

Number 23

Expulsion from the Garden

O Eve
your exciting
apple

inflames
my Adam

shaketh out
my dewy
locks

I end up
running the length
and breadth
of Eden
hard as a parsnip

let's get expelled
straightaway

we'll find
a room somewhere
and get some
rest