The Addiction Bird
In a dream
someone calling your name
from a far sea. A sign
from Allah. Says the book
of which, oriole, people.
In a dream
someone calling your name
from a far sea. A sign
from Allah. Says the book
of which, oriole, people.
You were my biggest mistake. In the yard,
our second son gave way to a shard
of glass and still, you did nothing. Kept mum.
Knife to air and he was taxing the sum
I drive Miss Carr to her kidney dialysis
in my taxi at 5 a.m.
She’s 43 and clutches
a ratty blanket.
At the clinic she lays back
on a gray vinyl bed-chair
Kiss me in Spanish.
Grab my waist and squeeze me
against you. Wait
a moment. Let silence
open space for language.
Let words
populate
what is
expanding
between us.
Before you died, you promised me
a book of poetry. It was the day
we planted the maple. We sprawled
in the dirt beside our newest sapling.
Poetry keeps wine and milk from spoiling and has prevented countless deaths since its invention in 1892. It works