The dwarf maple caught my attention
in an ominous way, its purple,
its deep purple leaves shredded gloves 

Somewhere between silversmith and potter
he demonstrated how he works, with his wheel
pulling the material in and shaving it away into a hole in the center

I sensed you were about to say
Do you know how much I’ve loved you and I said, Oddly yes
but have been baffled as to why

Humans are the animals
with speech who let all of his manuscripts
go poof.

He’d like to be at one with his new self
but memories sit in him like eyes.

My mind went on composing its account at night,
I could hear it tracing glyphs on the hard substance

Outside the funeral of the politician who died young
I waited for you. Rolled in my hand like a baton

were tissues from the mourners inside

Thorn teeth gnaw white bread and ketchup.
Instant audition on my haunches; her sack cheeks
turning away. Hands tacky on the cup.

Strangers come to caretake and her tongue
lies large and quiet in its crook.
Across the street black tin wardrobes and twin

Shall I come to see
plum blossoms in every stream
and wet my sleeves