The prince is waving good-bye. Good-bye Prince,
we shout as he ascends the steps of his coach,
Good-bye! Then he is gone with a contagion

in Gila Bend, Arizona, all’s gone still
with his death, the entire satellite base
draped in black garlands, even the old

    Every time the door opens,
the mother bird flies off. What's left
    slumps and pulses. I determine

Aphra Behn is not wearing all her clothes 
in some part of South America nobody knows. 
Everyone is polite, and not. Maybe she left off 

The jay streaks through the lilacs
              in color clash.
I note down: Invent
     outdoor birdswing

From the frank rendering of the sock
to the foot and the hem released
of its fold, with scent marking

Ah, to be old and rage uncontrollably,
to command the sun and moon to stop
and yet be treated like a dog,

At dusklight she slips
into acetate underclothing,
all rustling.

Books say parents
didn't mourn their children

in previous centuries, that

You hire a guide. See several waterfalls,
a dock for a boat, and, indeed, a boat.
You rock to a shore where bats rise as gulls.