insofar as I know my everyday geese


insofar as I know my everyday geese hidden in wet grass an April rain song

insofar as this bad morning the space between us gives way to

moss and goat's beard you take one ginger step submerged

and hop toward a boundary tipped askew rotted anew rotted again

insofar as the everyday geese bob their wary heads to the weary blues

this once quiet girl sloughs skin by a snake den

as if to chase down a kind of acceptance an iridescent head cradled in a towel

torn to disinfect insofar as I know a soft descent demands a sidelong glance

you set a pace aimed at sky–strewn hopes or else to cinch the cold river

roiling jade remember the dead check dams eroded geese scatter

flapping past dormant sprinklers parched or gilded when I say I did a stupid thing

you laugh everyday geese so easily spooked breathe steady now

in rain wet absurdity a loosening in the space between us

pine bark slabs upturn to soften our footfall in the final approach

a sweat soaked brim where bridge footings tremor elation

the day I sawed rounds too heavy to lift


in tight grain sand like silt dulls what's sharp

what felled under lines hardens what flood-washed

festers soft what once sopped poised to burn

yellow jackets in snowbrush broil

the pressure on the tailgate the sheer weight

I can't lift anymore

the pre-dawn rustle of a maybe skunk

what empty squares stretch and cry

you're muted you're muted

a wire brush loosens elk flesh from the grill

a boy on a sunken couch beside his grandmother

brushes absent welt worn rough

these tight rings these too heavy rounds

thunderheads build shelters reach capacity

it's not the worst he did says the boy

except for when we need heat I'll stand in frayed

cuffs and worn sole boots to cut rounds

for you to burn when I'm gone