Friday, December 30, 2022

POETRY: A USER'S GUIDE

In truth, I do not 
even know 
what it means—

much less
how to make it.

It's just something 
you wake up and 
find yourself always 

in the middle 
of have been doing 
already. 

But it's a lot 
less like speaking 

than like
singing in your sleep: 

in rhythms 
with no histories

and melodies 
left suspended;

and without that
grammatical net 
of guarantees—

and of course, 
on an instrument 
which is only as valuable 

as its capacity 
to be left, every night, 
unattended.