I can count

I can count

candyfloss kisses as they splinter and split

And as happy fades heady, chapped lips

Lie, flaking in the fury of a feather.

I reach for a raindrop when

Knives butter bagels in a wind lost

To the heart of a hole, of a champagne-

cloaked bone, of the one you’ll never know.

The sheep blushed brilliant,

The stars forgot to shine, and I forgot the

tick of time. I can count the children,

stick-straight in a wavering line.

They have spread in the sun, they’ll sprawl in the

rain, it’s goodbye to reason and greetings to shame.

It’s goodbye to thunder, I’m a witness to wonder, and

I’ll greet winter’s plunder before the moon wanes.

The hills are like white elephants,

but only for nine days, hush bonnie lassie, it’s

but a phase. A sentence for splendor, a mount of

marvel, I’m watching the hanging, the death of the days.

Deep breathing amphibian, you’ll never quite see, how hurt

the heart of the sun can be.

I’ll grip the brittle, I’ll whimper a while,

I hope to find out who you are. I have so few

seconds to pause, to print, to scream. There is nothing but

the dreams.