]

Down river I hear are soft communities
where death is Ahasuerus
with black holes in his face
and water’s cheap.
Children crazy as weather
there dignify soil filthy as squirrels,
but this twig is my friend
and I’m lost in water
so here’s to her and eternity.
I even forgive her
for overlooking the fact all her
life that to a wino
the slightest little drink makes him happy.