The purling ripples of melisma disturb the familiar lyrics
The stark theorems of the constellations
The crazy sequels of photosynthesis and manufacture
The latent tension that generates arguments
Regularly to chastise human arrogance
As arbitrary or superfluous
Shall we complain or refrain from complaining
That we’re not tuned in

A crab in its burrow shoots little bubbles
Out through the narrow aperture
An alligator cradling on the surface
Emits too a stream of bubbles
Impressive in their regularity
A strand of pearls piercing the glimmering duckweed
Universes might rise like ebullient foam
Adding their numbers to the rolls of infinity
While galaxies within exhausted collapse

Where’s the chaos where’s the savagery
In what gloom-slaked cell rages the lunatic
Up close the rough abstract expressionist gestures
A step back and the water lilies come into view
Another step back and the violence of plunder and transaction
And creeping like snail and sighing like furnace
And bearded like the pard
All furnished all in arms
All scripted all set

The signs that give warning or information
That announce sales or lost pets
The sumptuous eddies of smoke from a cigarette
Or the promise of passage to mystic lands
The issuance of commands just or unjust
The harbingers of nectarean spring
Or the gentle arrival of balletic autumn en pointe
The princess swaddled in Byzantine finery
Or the soccer player pulling off her jersey
The audible itinerary to death dark dry and cold
Or the grim wet past repeatable or not