the water is still and smooth in the pool

and the bee floats gracefully

wings waterlogged, pollen drifting away

but it breaks, ripples, splashes-

as children, laughing, jump in

and the bee is swept away, away

down the drain

and oh, the octopus holds a knife in each hand

but the cat scoffs,

you’re one short

but the cat is curious, too curious

and the octopus has done its job w...

there’s a shovel in my hands

and grass stains on my knees

I’m going out digging

(I’m going out burying)

the moon is high in the sky

and low in the dewdrops,

there are crickets singing in the grass

(they don’t know what I’ve done)

I dug a hole six feet deep,

with crickets the only sound,

and I buried you there

(I buried you there)

there by the old oak swing,

there by the dried-up creek,

there wh...

you are a god and they will follow you anywhere

you are Apollo and you have traded your bow and your golden crown for a knife and a mean right hook

your ichor splatters against concrete and brick in back alleyways because it’s the only time you feel divine again

there are stars in your eyes and you see olympus when your vision goes white, asphodel in stolen and unearned moments of rest

(olympu...

there’s an angel on earth (an impartial observer)

come to witness the folly of humanity

to watch, unsleeping, unbreathing, unliving

(it forgets itself)

it sees the dapple of light through leaves and the rippling of fresh river water and (it forgets itself).

it goes to sleep.

she wakes up to an unbearable weight.

the world itself sits on her chest and calls her to the stand,

in a court of outdate...