Rae Armantrout

                        1

Dears,

the backwards-facing S,a decoration in the iron rail,was here when I came,with its extra curlicuesat each end,and a miniatureversion of itselflike a foetusaffixed to its middle.

I’m telling you more, perhaps,than you need to know.

The sun on...

Nothing to see here.

Pine cones litterthe gutters.

Whose turn is itto blow on the mirror,mama?

*

Each pushes forwardin her wild eagernessto take partin a ritual.

‘Is this that thingabout fireflies?’

Maybe.

*

We use similes to showthings are connected –

and they are,just not in the ways we say.

*

A hole in fresh dirtsurrounded by orange conesinto whicha crow peers,hops...

Were you surprised to learnthat you could swapan ‘i’ for an eye,and ‘a’ for an apple?

That’s the lure.

Later, you maywant to pray.

*

You may be leftto think your wayfrom moment to moment

without being toldwhat a moment is,

if it’s something solid.

*

The mad hear languagespeak itselfand are humble before it.

They receive instruction.

*

The child in her...

The way orchid splits the difference

with hot pink, say,

in the hanging plastic crystal –

how an increased level of saturation

can come across as reticence

or even as retraction.

There, where it changes tack –

the as in the ‘come across as’ –

put your tongue on that.

Sign in car window:

It’s not about us,...

To convey great effort and mild reluctance, one groans briefly when sitting up in bed.

This is sometimes known as prayer.

            *

Ignore the wind chimes. They’re a bad example.

            *

To stand beneath or walk behind –

to comprehend!...

I’m not lonely because I have secrets;

I’m lonely because words can’t bring the past into the present

(which amounts to the same thing).

        *

Jack Rabbit and the Lonely Present

is the title of a book I almost wrote

        *

I’m lonely because you’re...

1. On ‘Buried Alive’, possessions can’t be lost

or found. They can’t be exchanged.

They’re negotiated

as one negotiates a landfill.

2. In the militarised evening, Boeing

touts its service to ‘our troops’. We’re shown

soldiers pinned down. One is strapped

to a pallet – ready for take-off?

3. In the currency market, I’m the...