I, tongue of snakes.
Cut up, dipped in powdered sugar,
scattered to the ants in the deepest corner of Mt. Nebo
as an insult, bind my ghost to the mountain.

Caught in his teeth are recipes for chocolate mousse
and coq au vin, my brother’s first arrest, the one-
room schoolroom where her mother taught.

maybe, and maybe being blinded
by the beauty of a tenth grader
was proof that, for a little while,
we were safe from the teeth
that keep chewing up the world.
I’d like to commend

There you and I are on the ascent.
After that, the arrival is what matters most.

Man, not the Zest
Man, and certainly not
the My Drafty House Is Warmed Badly
by Kerosene Heaters Man

fill meadow, hedge, and orchard grove
with necessary calls for love,

So strange,
in my dream of us,
you were also a dream.

and would figure in the knowledge that such bruises
aren't endless, and that our rib cages are not mere bones. One can die
from grief, so now we can describe loss and love as the Holy Twins.

like God beyond the footlights of the world—
rises to its feet
and roars like the sea.

And I came alive
Glowing
In the dark
Listening like a fool