Ah the exigency of it all
Fragmentary obligatory fresh and masterful
Cathy Ann it’s you again
Who died twenty years after we broke up
I see that you’re still involved
With those projects that came swarming
From the nascent construction sites
The circuitry the water lilies
A song about a chair and an athlete
The normal passages of kingdom-come

The children were encouraged
To join the folding club
To bring their towels their collectible game cards
And their tiny suitcases
Emblazoned with mythic charactery
Of pixies and salamanders

One of them dances gingerly
To Bible songs played on an ancient phonograph
But frenetically enough
To bounce the insects from his pockets
To which the monitor murmurs
So there is no interior

When I recall your enthusiasms
I convert them do I not
Into theatrical executions that tread the line
Between pictures and accounts
Leaning a little toward the theoretical
Toward the frankly alternative
A conflict perhaps
Of ontogenesis and irreality

And how have you scripted me
I drive to work wear ordinary clothes
Try to keep track of the passage of time
It’s not as if some revelation is at hand
I was just wondering
How do pigeons navigate so succinctly