tanja the light on the lake this morning was giving
las vegas, soft focus, hard glamour, elizabeth berkeley
in the pool with champagne. she was giving abba,
starlight, dancing queen. never seen so many stars.
i wanted to be with it. i wanted to be in. i heard
if you stare at anything long enough you can make it
sacred. i tried drawing you a picture but i don’t know
what i’m doing. so i wrote down nineteen names for trees,
believing i’ll remember. check out the faith on this guy.
i’ve lost seventeen already. bear oak, i’ll hold onto.
white pine, hemlock, wineberry, ash. sassafrass too,
if there’s time to be honest. sometimes i’m better
than i think. sometimes i can see six ways the lake
is like a life & enjoy a hand-thrown bowl. Commit
jean valentine to memory. take a walk to see the hens.