the birds look to me


like shattered pianos.
I snap

the necks of snapdragons in two.
all this nature,

not a single straight line.
back home,

a lake, where they’ll baptize anything
but your body

& there’s a proper way to take off
a dress.

the deer pile up
like meteor showers—


& then there’s another


bumper to hammer out.
god, a worm

in a bottle. everyday
another

leaf falls,
afraid the world will run


out of cruelties