WAVES WITHOUT SEA

Chapter 1
Any Longer

Because of the eye the hand fell
apart into countless waves
which pushed the fingers of the sun back and forth
along the skin until the skin couldn’t
any longer
contain life or keep out the world

Chapter 2
Again One More Time

The night is losing its hair again
the rain is coming
in a rhythm as unsteady
as these plants trying
again one more time
to make the dead remember
that light has a face

Chapter 3
After All

After all the river could swallow us
not whole but bit by bit
like the stones beneath our feet

but if instead it swallowed the breath
between us we could see
each other without light without
eyes that build distance upon drought
without words that push us from the earth
from the froth and the spray of weight

after all the river is neither earth
nor sky but their violent
marriage at our feet

Chapter 4
A false Sky

A river hides the earth
beneath a false sky
composed of shifting edges
and shattered light
the earth is glad to be free

but the sky resents
being its mask
any longer
contain life or keep out the world