this time

I burden not even the wind
with my own heart
 

All this for you

                      I forgo a better view

so you can experience it alone

 
To experience it

alone

This is the way it ends I’m going to be
honest.
A low-pressure trough over interior California
will persist through Sunday.
Tonight and tomorrow the swells slowly weaken.
I have taken my celestial barge and docked
at Point Conception.
I must avoid prolonged activity
due to exposure.
 

only dead puppies today

all the ones going we put in black plastic bags

heavy thuds into requiem

these rigor mortis dogs from the highway
 

 
in Drama incessant crying is childhood
 

i know him through gestures guesses the aftermath of breakfast
cleaning plates
ice cold fruit

fishing lines brown water

his mysterious desk and a pen
which drained ink off bathing suits
 
naked ladies appeared
when you held it upside down
 
 
 
an eagle tattoo on his arm and a closet
too small to hold any decent man’s belongings
jammed full of his

She’d go in the closet
eye the garments, breathing hot breath on them
like silk

watch the fabric beneath her fingers,

those darn dresses

those darn beautiful dresses.
 

Zipping up she squeezed
first — her breath then –
her chest
 
nothing would ever zip.
 
 
Once she ate a grape all day only a grape
 
 
nothing zipped.
 
 
Josephine Rosalie would never fit
into any of those dresses
 
those darn dresses
 
those darn beautiful dresses.

she’d prefer tape it to the body.

This is surgery.

Surgery is more important than fitting in things that don’t fit
like fancy old dresses or shoes

so she’d handle Mamaw’s surgeries in a toy room with a trophy case.

The surgeries were mostly brain, heart, sometimes a limb.

Rhinestone sutures, letter opener
rows of fake pearls held in place by a bandage.

Buttons spilling out once in a while
when somebody moved.

It is important not to move.

Do not disturb the stitches!

Try not to laugh.
 

But most importantly
do not move.