by Rae Armantrout
illustrator Guglielmo Castelli
Issue VIII
CLEARANCE
If the clear wrapped
dark blue
lozenge
on each sink
at the W
with Bliss
inscribed on top
and bumps
like tire tread
on its bottom
is intended
*
A clear still
day, only
the butterflies
reel
as ever,
touching
on nothing
BIVOUAC
1
Their knees touched at night
when they lay on their sides.
The pressure of the bony plates
was a wall
or the pressure was union.
She had relaxed
against it.
2
Meaning is sensed relation.
The body’s sensed relation
to space?
A body’s well-being
in relation
to an environment.
She ripped a feather
from her tail
and placed it in the nest.
She discarded this
and extracted a second
TWO AND TWO
1
If one travels to the old country
and finds it
there,
she’s thrilled.
Surprised.
If there
and here
can be made
to coincide
what else
might not be
possible?
2
The tapir. The tape worm.
The question. The lepton
3
But If what
is “a mode of
oscillating,”
then how
is unaccounted
for
NOT
In the ongoing
concussion,
quick
Möbius strips
of bird song
fail to attach.
*
When the show comes back,
its theme song
no longer refers
to us.
*
“I
don’t know
what you
think you
are, but”
*
A circle
has a center.
A circle is not
a face
