[It was as if her love had become]

It was as if her love had become

a big eye or some historical logic or

a religious particle lodged in the brain.

In the most costly services of a great society

one may find the allure of a benign intelligence.

I have hoped, since I was a child, to be surrounded by

a group of articulate characters who might

with gracious friendship provide

some essential entertainment

as Aaron’s

which was a cane

and then a snake

and then a cane again

great clouds

of smoke from the forest

Itsy bugs amarch my naked legs

in my beard, to burn

as one might

with one’s eyes

I learned, but can no longer remember

with what dignity another’s care imbues one.

You sit and pick the lice from my hair.

What sort of life is this.

Source: Take It (Wave Books, 2009)