Excerpts from Ghazals Against the Gradual Demise

  xl. the may flies flail the last of their dying moments against the glass brown bats fall from the walls of caves this just in: vegetables are lethal bears climb trees to escape Barrhaven where Goldilocks has become a housewife this must be the place (naïve melody)[1] we vanish, there is no magic word   xli. i’m fucked i can write only of the dead i add another holy relic to my rag and bone box this silver spoon has found me trouble marked by our scars someone has made swans out of rock & overwrought iron everlasting metal flowers that mock the mortal gardens listen, this construction has disturbed the ghosts   xlii. the rusty pipes moan this building breathes i have mistaken all for ghosts the long day is a litany of wheels and shoes from this hospital window the light does not forgive reveals sharp angles wing shadows over walls i am my body nothing more   xliii. honey pie, i’m as girly as you i wear the underpants of my ex lovers find me hunched against a concrete wall if you want, with incognito ghosts & strangers this coffee tastes better with whiskey & any story you care to spin my way i’m greedy for more of these endless afternoons outside with the tiger lilies and the vagabonds i take inventory of these sugar moments each one sweeter than the last