beaver means whatever’s
up the skirt if you’re
a fireman climbing up underneath

climbing up a
ladder.

de-code failed usage
arithmetic of urgency
imaginary after a decimal
point to the unbalanced checkbook,
unlikely in this day and ratio.

they all say change diet
musculature begs the nutrients
chance diet two oranges and a
lemon, enough to call back scurvied
sailors, enough to call them back
to land.

four bombs morning
transit nine something
in the morning
forty-plus insulate the toll
two-layered bus above
ground the shaking must have
caused tremors in the thames.

what a fantastic movie
this could be.
what a story to scream.
the running ticker outpacing
the latest,     screen undeniably
faithful.  marathon runner don’t
look up now.  discrepancy
in the numbers.  the usage
of clear and present.

gift this next lap around.
marathon runner glancing up
the skirts of girls
girls waving from windows
whisper help the beavers the river
overflowing the thames muddied rising
help     the beavers
hasten to build the dam



Teal cranes swing
                 side
ways explode open brick
a facade     the artist said—
walls can mean so much more
an imprint     cataclysmic on a sticker
a marriage    unconsummated despite
the wallpaper always knows better
a coach carting pilgrims toward
an even older mecca—to let, not
for rent; the use of more passive verbs.
                 Also, nil on the millennium
bridge.  Flashes of
quick flashes in sound.  Tape recordings of
crickets, faucets, and garbage burning
art made and also
not made    Duchamp never stepped inside

a bathroom.  Woman painter
tied to the wrist of an infidel
--dreamscapes to incorporate Mexico
O, fistfulls of dresses, golden bracelets,
sorrowful gleam in the teeth!
Unusual, yes, but
revolt was merely a product of
the color scheme.



sequence

    1

trying to drown
a kitten under water—
that is the cruelest thing    ever.
But he writes better
    than I write so
what else to do but
    forgive besides

the cat    is still alive.

    2

we  (the pronoun is still okay)   Americans
    read these
magazines    for health advice
ever notice the credibility
of people with very white teeth?
try flossing     sometime.
it heals the heart.

    3

he wooed me most effectively
satellite tower serenade
       the deer were honored to watch
such sweetness unfold
    in public    in
the outside air of
    ten stories up
                            with ivy.

    4

To say    creatures of habit
    means more than the
thoughtfulness of wearing pajamas.
There are book shop regulars.
Psychological illnesses
    involving soap.
Marriage means
             you’re allowed inside this
   
     irrational world.

    5

Bulletin board and a bridge for
sighing.    If only
    all architecture were designed
with such
pathos.
   
  
  I grabbed at
                the inside of your elbow.
It was marked with pink as if
    my fingers
                          had been stained.