I.

  maybe Spring you said coatless. in November or the book. you burned despite its resplendent cover. me asking otherwise beside the yellowwarm lights. the streets’ lights beside a clacking lake against brownboats. overtipped you drowned. not a puzzle but buried. your tweed hat at the shore’s jigsaw toe. pushing against. and rush through the water shaking. black glance into treetops. blouse glistened eats the wind a small umbrella of skin now back. and rush. to the house. where learning alphabets slash coffee in a teacup was. to soothe a log bloated from the lake laid. atop slash beneath the sand slash pushing against.

    

    II.

  he drowned. he blue-armed treed his lungs he shotgun mouthed. don’t flip upwards the book its resplendent cover yellow. and green slash tornado a father tried. chuckling grief at bedsheets. tried boat building out of bear-trap shoes. cranberry juice fasting. body like a pine needle. unfloatable inflatable as by liquid. and hold the flame or body lowered. through dirt to form a halo death needn’t tango slash two-step. but open the door on the car fording. through the river.

    

    III.

  it wasn’t how death was supposed to be. either time both clawing and dull. begets stones in my pocket the lake he drowned. G said alive while he was still. now blushing up noses. for the wake never even lived. on the coast. then wrote pouring light blue into. the sky rote memory stilling for time. it’s amazing sorry for the wait. now dance slash eat. lake slash pull the hand from its waving. at the beach a bridge. except for his body collapsed.

    

    IV.

  pushing against who waves. at your feet all the way across Carolina. knowing blueprints for a graveyard party swamp not eating. at my slash your green skin sky cloning. itself in the sheen ripple. set an egg on the floor. down the stairs all night your feet waving the river. styled hairdo from rain plus black coat and shake. dawn-focused eyes and seagull who limped at your feet. said you, G, coatless, concerning when next to meet. maybe spring.

    

    V.

  start clawing. start the engine shake. keys in the face of deities gathered. into flocks of threes heat lightning. into boulders blank minded. into the pockets of water then climb. the lake makes the lungs sink arrow shot. toward the toe of the wave at your feet. no river without. quiet and the rain it wasn’t how death was. supposed to be he was standing so still in the middle. a tree at the bottom of running. water the building collapsed. begetting stones. in your pocket G look the blue. sky and the pour. learning small alphabets the X. of your body limp on the shore. near to us who are pushing against slash again.