We’ve all walked into the bar
of a joke we’ll never get.
Knock knock from the evangelicals
inviting you to pancakes.
Knock knock from democracy
looking for its key fob.
Don’t open the door if the knob
feels warm. When all goes quiet,
you’ll know the wolves
have you right where they want you.
Some days, more than anything,
I want my old bike back.
Some nights, I switch on the porch light
to watch the bugs. It’s nice to have something
bright and buzzing to gather around.
Hasn’t the goal all along been
to make an unforgettable sound?
For Beethoven, the ringing in his ears never stopped.
For Miles, there was no wrong note,
only what comes next, and it’s hard not to fear
what comes next. One summer, the emergency
is the butterflies vanish. The next,
it’s nothing but smoke. What’s really scary
are miniature horses, pink ribbons
in their tails, prancing around the fair
while everyone conceals and carries
and cotton candy fills the air. A fortune
lurks at the center of every grapefruit.
There’s a howl coming from inside
the glacier. An old car backfires,
then the sky is full of crows.
This is drawn from “Hold Everything.”
