FIVE POEMS

Zing A set of instructionsfor making instructions. That’s a virus— pure, unencumberedvalue, money making moneyin a host’s cells, so streamlined,it’s redundant. But what goodis a metaphor weighed downwith obscure reference when what’s wantedis the zing of unimpededtransmission? The Take-Away Is it strangethat all electronsare the same as if “somewhere”was the perfectcopier? To a humananything strangesuggests a door. One grain of riceon a bathroom floor and its growing shadow. I’d like to knowwhere the “take-away” istaken. To heavenwhere you’ll never go. Escape Velocity Out the window, lilac’slavender swag above long leavessplit down the middle as we are— mirror-imageat the core— matter andits opposite number, bad actors both.Can’t handle intimacy. But here we are,comfy as hell. The Horizon Originally, plants and animalsturned into people. And people could turninto animals or plantswhen pressed, sothere were always more of them. As you’ve heard, a European girlbecame a tree when houndedby the god of poetry. And in the north, a foxslipped into the tentof a…