Archival: In the Reading Room

Circle of Light:
inside my world turns safely miniature and a cart clatters over
gravel to drag the narrative out of that century

Pine Table:
book as big as a matchbox keeps the past contained and bordered
by a blue-edged mourning paper

Glass Room:
summer narrows to exclude anything but a snap as the book
clasps shut like a necklace

Desire:
to have no body
to become the book lying open on the cradle

To Stay Here
To watch these words subtract the world around them