ISSUE: Spring 1982
in the midst of all this mystery
I am here with answers
I have a letter of recommendation from a rose-thorn
my credentials are under the care and feet
of the oldest goat in Garver County
I have two degrees in sunlight
and a third in glass
insomnia is the key
a noise in the night
stops and for no reason you know
you have done something important
some part of your evening speech
has grown a body
while you faded into your green armchair
it shines finally in your dreams
like ice
outside the blue door
a red car sitting silently on the lawn
instruments of torture line its dreams
you stand once more in the kitchen
whispering devotions to the empty cup
let me give you this award for carelessness
it can be given only once
outside
the landscape defined by one stick
or the bird that has flown from it
your dream
the yellow reed-light of the marsh
a floating animal
threaded to the water by soft spiders
long since gone to another family of delicate loss
and it finally strikes me
that sorrow does not make a good desk
ask only for water and a knife
with this everying can be proven
