Our People I

rustle plastic bags of outside food in

movie theaters/talk out of turn

in the swallow-dark light/believe

trash should be/as confetti/everywhere

in the viaducts’ shadow/souring in gutters’

craw/jaywalk with the urgency of sloth /split

verbs meaningfully/do or want to do

better/ tattoo so you will never mis-

remember our names/name ourselves

Precious and Mercedes/must have

some Indian in us/search for signifiers

in eyes/ bright earlobes/textures of hair/

are color-stuck/are disabused our definitions

of love/love and don’t know how to call it/

grieve any number of nouns/mostly people/

pets/preoccupy with memories at the

repast/recall that day at the beach that /

leads us to days at the beach grilling/meat

browning/its purpose/it’s children on the

sandbar tossing a ball/the dog biting

the surf/finally some mirth/we carry

for keeps.