by Richard Kerwin
do you understand my language
i cannot dive as deeply as you sink
i looked at the pool but didn’t see the rain
pigeons and carl sagans agree
fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck the police
i eat everything i find in my mouth
either the sun shines and all reflective things don’t shine
or all reflective things shine and the sun does something else
my eyes haven’t stopped itching
sometimes you see a dead bird flattened & not 3d anymore & like paper
and sometimes you see a dead bird and white jelly and red and purple tubes
and its belly is open & there are flies
wrinkle near your grandma’s collarbone
a yellow dog’s yellow eyelashes
you broke the keyboard & i tried to put the letters back
a yawn
dad cried
one big marble two little ones
the smell of acetone
covered in soot
took you out of you and me out of me
& both pretended to like it & did like it
but pretended to like it more than we liked it
a willow tree do you see it
a game we used to play where i said
what kind of object do you want to be
and you told me
the leaves seemed like language
an oak
a birch
& i thought part of me understood it