There it was: the find!Pretty pickaxe leaningagainst faded garage wall amongmany worn out tools ofrural work: dig—saw—cut—haul—drill—rasp—plane. dirt—steel—lumber—trees,Muscles taut:push—pull–lift—breakup—smooth—sharpen. Metal head extended,a ready-set-gowoodpecker,feathered handle smoothed byyearsmonthsdays’ effort toget that something done. Lift, admire:future ease of breaking throughdecades-packed driveway dirt.The power of pickaxe,the line of farmers, foresters, miners behind me,bending forward,moving

The child open, curious,smitten by snail, noIndy 500 here justidle, slow, spiralling ofslime and camouflageand, the best,housing is free. Aha! There’s oneandanother andthis onetiny and perfect,look! look! Tippytoeing on paths littered withweed piles browning asquack weed deepens, lengthensluxuriously assunflowerdips lower, languidly. Curious child still searching.Hummingbird turns tail fromblossom and feeder

Two people coming together Flirt with hurt for joymix the curves of our personalitiesour nerves wet with weatherskin peels scarred and healingmuscles move through the ebbs and flows of our differenceReshape our swirls of selfToMeltMouldAndMixCarving them to fit as close as atoms allowawkwardly stepping forwardputting the surface together Two separate

You’re a human collage I’m an emotional miragewe’re a masterpiece worth makinglet’s find a paintbrushpaint what we are feelinga beautiful picturea mixture of our coloursPicture perfect We were just a polaroidfast but nostalgicworth keeping in the photo bookfor when we lookbackto what was  

  Everything has floated away Fish bones The belly gives birth to pain   The tree moves like a dead stone washed by healing water On the banks of a jagged river in the hollow of a fresh wound    I take a pager from the pocket of a thunderstorm

On your way to be stuck in traffic No escape by the Riverside Headed home just drove past it Chasing dolls on White Rock tides Drop your dream in the mail then hurry Richmond Post for your Russian bride Mayor’s rant of a Fleetwood foot rub Over the protests where

What peaches and penumbras, Allan!Arrayed so gallantly against the meekTowing tonkas en train de bruit, perforce toAlert the sheep to the falling of the sky.What courage and costume, man!Perching primly, tweeting in treacherous shriek.Yet transparent in their hoarse bleating, by the by.