She called the white ducks with a soft
Clucking of her tongue and they came to
Her busy hands for the hard corn she shelled.

most people have absolutely the wrong idea of how to go about cutting a throat, the right way to do it on animals anatomically similar to humans such as dogs, sheep, veal calves and very young pigs—emphatically not on full-grown pigs 

The pains so produced
are not, of course, excruciating—
more abstract,

We grow old, trying to display such
riches, trying to create scenery
that will hold it in perspective.

I’ve carried this one inside me
like an animal, trying to reabsorb
what wasn’t mine.

We talk about our seizures and rate them on a scale from one to ten. Most of us are in the four to six (average) range, but you do see a few eights and nines (exceptional) wandering about with haughty expressions and gold-plated tongue-depressors placed jauntily in their breast pockets.

Yes, you and I will meet someday
in the tourist section of the astral plane. We’ll float
like heavenly barges and spit

Behind the chains and sawblades on the north wall of the shop, I found the packrat’s nest, his fetishes:

Father says the worst thing is a windless December night with no moon, no stars, just snowlight glowing in through the windows, lighting the path to the spring house.

I have taught tennis serves to wealthy women, repeating the importance of the Y. They practiced before me, attempting to toss the ball within reach of their swerving rackets, lifting their breasts inside carefully fitted uniforms, and I sang a song of encouragement, standing near the most attractive.