Alphabet Primer

ant arpeggios ascending across apples	bassoons beached	catalytic converter clanking clanking clanking	dogwood drowning
each easy	fustian frolic	guitar gig	hot heavy hair
itch it	juxtaposition	kissing kangaroos	loose
monumental moment	neononesuch	operatuneditty	pick pick pick
quick quote	roach run	saturnalia socks	tunnel tumult
umbrella	vexed virago	waddle will	exegesis
you’re yours	zone	zero	zonk

After Words

After whirls listen
whale hush comes
the cat jigs the bat
for your cares ward
off dangerous asks.

For love these old letters
wild bedraggled wag around
nest of gnarled grunts
mosses bones hair vines.

The old alphabetical guard
strains in place at attention
runes assigned ward beds
grand command inspection.

Sparse words heal
after wounds foraged
forward in a land
of odd angles
accentuated by red pencils.

Winds mean about
we know not what
if in the end this
is an end or a start.

“It’s like a new
pair of ears,”
after words wishes
remains unspoken.

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C comes to close,
chimes, “Oh! Hello,”
and commences
to catch water,

waiting for the ferry,
then the crossing,
and the long cruise
back to the city.

A bald eagle floats,
driftwood across the cant
tilt and lilt of the wharf:
tackle shops and taverns.

“Sure,” C says, though
sounds disappointed,
cooped up in Coupeville
open mouthed, chip

on shoulder shooting pool:
“7 ball, side pocket,”
but clips the cue
ball curling.

“A difficult shape,
a hard cut,
to make sense of,”
C says, scanning
sound’s mirror,
ceiling reflecting cold water.

Another crew of sailors
occupies the tavern,
drinking to a mate’s
re-upping:
“Here’s to Carl,”
amidst a cheer
and a clap.

C looks around,
fails to see
any circular irony.

They do not want for something to say
They run around and play all day
Syllabicating back and forth
No one asks what another is worth

At night they climb trees to sleep
They dream of mouths of lips and teeth
And breath of a land where speech
Is silly and fluid and free

Having no bowels they don’t see
The lithe ape thinking in a tree
Who would trap them in a man
And call himself can