today my cells turn in
with narrowed eyes
your birthday is basic, but flying
it’s green and blue
and the orange lily that grows this week
your birthday is a backyard
how random is it who we love
as I’m putting down this
particular cat
yesterday the orange lilies at mcdonalds
and my soft serve in a cone
today mom is getting cancer scraped off her nose
while I talk to you from her backyard
every cell narrow eyed and
swimming away with
my info
I get mom a sandwich wrapped in pink paper
from the Italian market with the old hunchback man
I touch the cat’s fur through the screen and I'm thrown
by our eye contact
how random, who we love
or orbit, and if you’re
prone, if your sleeve
has a heart
you wear something like
the time you have left
but you used to draw us
hard mazes in the shape
of a brain
you just are
the lilies in June
and your special name
gets me over the gulf
(imagine) all the contents
of the gulfs between us and
who we end up loving
the crosswords
the low voice as tool
something gentle
dry, some hint
now there is a lizard at my feet and
I’ve seen your eyes widen for creatures
your patience surface with youth
**
yesterday they removed the angel sculpture
at the end of my street who’s plaque read
and the angel wants to go back and fix things
it’s from a Laurie Anderson song and
everyone knows you’re Lou reed
and the angel wants to go back and fix things
to repair the things that have been broken
but there is a storm blowing from Paradise
and the storm keeps blowing the angel backwards into the future
and this storm, this storm is called Progress
