I thought that if I could put it all down, that would be one way. And next the thought came to me that to leave all out, would be another, and truer, way.

clean-washed sea

The flowers were.

The soldiers were in the habit of saying that a dying

soldier was “going west.” Are you going west on your

vacation? We turned west at Allentown and drove west-

veteran postage and were honorable if yes based on where do you wish along dotted cut post office box or print a campaign badge or service medal 5000-C through July i, 1955 ex-service daughter who died in civil service appointment to use in item 4 your telephone not write in this space number during wartime has not remarried Idaho, Montana, Ponce de Leon Avenue inside the fold here heavy lines at perforations the same number on both answer copy to each erase errors you remove that please Spanish Sex of birth tentative Pitzer, La Sierra, Talladega to expedite our space

The weight falls downward of its own volition
Bringing to the ground its iron embrace

 Innumerable scratches on the shore
        Like an old alley shot toward the stars

You flop down into the personal
Like a triumph of years standing on end

Here the noiseless mind
Is like a quiet wind

I’m not going to cry all the time
nor shall I laugh all the time,
I don’t prefer one “strain” to another.

After the first glass of vodka
you can accept just about anything
of life even your own mysteriousness

The night paints inhaling smoke and semen. 
    The frail face pulses like a parachute,
    corridors of shakes melting from the boot