the mamas and the papas had a name for the overtone that appeared when the harmonies were perfect

day, the body extends, the long-billed bird resting on your chest, no threat. a windowshade open like an eye, this is the world we own, electric blanket, worn sheets, one foot, another. the mouth, a country of want, wants, satisfaction, arm across the belly, a found language the radiator speaks, all sibilants and long spaces you step through for a kiss.

x

melody = the pitch below touch, the home tone, a return after so long. what kind of a nickname is that? lit, the ceiling is a reduced sky, a segmented body, look up, it's all mirror, fold the equation a leaf in your pocket, the first to turn, first found, the room on your tongue, an undiminished fifth, imperfect pitch hitting the mark every time.

xx

I love I love I love I love without reprieve or need for vow is the sun corrupt for not swearing to God a heat for morning / release -- a constant, encircle and release, repeat -- la lampara, the lamp, la luz, the light, I have no demands, day tramps in and we are anatomy in revelation, in light, still here.

xxx

coy radiance, cure-all, what brings you here this toothed December, spelunking my lost cause, not knowing the hot water tap from the other, the burgeoning jungle of words obscuring the practical, the connective / from where this reserve? when did my heart go crooked and small, light-shy and hiding?

xx

all your blood on the outside, what holds you together? somewhere between constantly naked and obstinately secreted is a wall the correct height and of the appropriate stone, behind it a river, my mouth, a word like stay.

x

endings are the hardest. to pull off the blankets and go, rouse the bird and the radiator to a new pitch, entrust skin to the day, to other hands, get me drunk and I'll tell you a long story about a girl, she takes honey in her tea and no cashews, please / outside, two dogs and a car horn, the electronic shop radio predicts two more inches, can you feel the tenses shifting now, present, present perfect, pluperfect, future, subjunctive, past.

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