just spiritual grease—the
industrial-grade stuff
made for oiling hidden machinery
and lubing-up
stopped locks.
Sometimes, it's conveyed
as a stream of cool water
through the eucalyptus trees,
or a clean shaft
of light falling
exactly where you are,
but which leaves you—
when it leaves you
(as it must leave you,
much as it just left
the feet of your neighbor
who lives one debacle over)—
standing somewhere other
than the place
where you were.
