Come, try this exercise:
Focus a beam,
Emptied of thinking, outward through shut eyes

Across the sea at Alexandria,
Shallow and glittering, a single shroud-
Shaped cloud had stolen, leaving as it paused

The Fence

Once upon a time is what the fence dividing up a mountain 
range announces, in lines at once irregular and even.

Paint blistering on the ceiling of the den:
Excuses gathered speed, helping no one.
So I walked up the same mountain as before.

The plant etched on the wall sits in its pot
as calm as anything—
as any thing not

The thread of the story fell to the ground, so I went down on my hands and knees to hunt for it. This was at one of those patriotic celebrations, and all I saw were imported shoes and jackboots.

Many children’s games depend on a physical handicap. Hopscotch, for ­example, requires a skillful player to hop from square to square on one leg while the other merely dangles in the air, as though amputated so long ago he had time to practice jumping without it.

The women examined you with furrowed brows, looking as though they had been toasted by years of sun.

A man was able to get hold of all the laughter in the world, and he packed it tightly and locked it up in his house, and hid the key.

This is the one that will outlive us all
With her head in the same duster and her small
Mouth maybe puckering in a bit more