There is a tree falling in our back lot,
a willow, gigantic and scarred, with torn limbs
hanging at oblique angles, its base a tangle

The woman sits before a glass of wine
as if a talisman or offering
to the genius of the place.

“From Mohammed, the Servant and Prophet of Allah,
    to Muqavas, Leader of the Copts: There is
safety and security for those believers who

Questioner:      By now, everyone has a grievance
                               honed to a nice point by the abrasions
                               of long acquaintance. Are we stuck?

In Anderlecht, the Maison d’Erasme
sits in an elegant courtyard as if
withdrawn from the vulgar world—concedo

Toenail, bracket, header, joist and brace—
words nailed into place

We are hollowed out by death, as by life.
How many moments to balance the weight
of forgetfulness—that knowingness which

I have dreamt a dream of fulfillment, of freedom:
she was an old woman, with a face like the moon,
first full with reflection, then new and dark, and then

When the high-pitched sounds of the August continuo
circulated like breezes through the immovable heat,
time was a single leaf drifting upwards, then down.

Above, the red clay cliff, and above that,
a fringe of scrub grass and the overall sky.
Propped against great stones, boulders with ledges