I am still waiting for the lion

Empty vessels
make the most sound, I think,
as you rip the fairy lights off the handrail.

I suffer visions and many indignities
while looking for the Lobster

In my universe, my arm carries a heart and flowers,
my back a misguided quote

You let the yellow glow
from eye sockets. The building up the street
is burning faster and faster.

Every so often, they add a tattoo
in honor of some long-forgotten love.

I myself should never have been born

and then her eyes fully opened — blazed through with strands of mud

you know that
baby swallows make silver ripples
in wild rivers to court reeds?

Should have found a job by now; should have slept in the night;
should have boiled old coffee before noon.

we drove on through
the blue seal of morning as the turbines
turned and winked out their hearts

my father holds
his favorite drink

You said it was okay to blame
what goes wrong on the planet

There is so little left of the tomato plants.

I count my homes—
those of my scattered youth
the sanctuary of our young family
the intermittent rest stops
of apartments and vacations.