—

1. kingdom of ends

O the round

about (and O

the rotary)

American as

this world is

(beautiful as

teeth)

consumption is

the lower and

upper beak

2.

If a rooster

crows only

when he sees

light, in the dark

he’ll never crow

and in the dark

ever even

the minor

irritations are

iridescent.

3.

Bee shadow

on the table before

A bird amongst books

—open the window— a sparrow really

Eastern surely

If he got in, he can get out

persimmon-red cap

The whirl of the elevator

as it begins to rise

wind round in a copper bell

What thou lovest well is labor

When I leave

what will I have left:

4. Missoula

How to tell

a Fish Crow

an American Crow

apart? Hawks circle

the hills in hock.

Whippoorwills

in overcast

escrow open

their bills to the light

of the lunar cycle.

Dick said/says

if you can answer

a question to ask

is a waste of time.

We are not

what we say or do

when we are

and I am

aching in my

every joint, too.

5.

Jersey cows mull/munch

pumpkins

in a green fog

—a contingent compass

 ruminant animal.

The loosened

mechanics rid

themselves of their

grammatical sling.

The stretch marks

a beautiful

emboldening.

6.

In autumn decay

decreases

the oxygen

of the leaf strewn lake.

Birds of a feather

and all those other

proverbs—bread

crumbs on muddy water

stones in the gizzard.

A leaf is

a leaf, but            what then

decomposes

and where does the turkey-

buzzard caravan?

Not here, not there

not in the late dogwood.

There was a time when things burned

and burned properly, ash all

all the way through.

—