Memory near oblivion. Far death
the voice grinds and vibrates and trembles
the wind denies

to you
the view
to me

How can there be a book that maps these continents
         of clouds that drift
apart, reshape their puzzle pieces, and coalesce into new

First we lose our shadows
walking together into the veiled fields
of shade tobacco.

These days sleep comes
to me only through
the aid of three white pills.
Every night
I repeat the magic
words aloud—melatonin,
magnesium, ashwagandha
root and leaf extract
plus magnolia bark
extract that contains
honokiol and magnolol.
Pharmaceutical lullaby.
Charm to conjure

Every year the flowers come back in the same order:
                     first the crocus
like all the teenage girls on the block deciding

these mornings
here is a true color
like a curtain behind windowpanes

the road on the wall

pulled shut

the sun from your eye

the door is open
like the night outside
I’ll stand to walk

is what they call the newly dead,
(absence of air
does this). What they call dread