The Arithmetic Teacher Living in Six Meticulous Fields of Sweet
I thought I heard outdoors
the rain dancing on the tin shed again. I think, maestro, not
more of that in the bargain…You know your sense of humor
is a slow pavane with figures
of Medieval honeycomb and raisins forbidding
contraband.
The fifth field never really did exist
like carrion in a very high cupboard.
Another flimsy fold of brain that juxtaposes
Poughkeepsie to me drawing
a hot tub in Spokane…
They found my sister in the hospital
just this morning. Water in the river
visiting at her chin. Above her
pain-killing pills like speckled berries
on a heavy branch. Arms in the green water
conducting the last bassoon from the other side…
Now, dusk and a tea that’s clean.
I’m finally drawing a tub here
where, in sanctum, the larger fish are seen
swimming upstream.
