These days sleep comes
to me only through
the aid of three white pills.
Every night
I repeat the magic
words aloud—melatonin,
magnesium, ashwagandha
root and leaf extract
plus magnolia bark
extract that contains
honokiol and magnolol.
Pharmaceutical lullaby.
Charm to conjure

How can there be a book that maps these continents
         of clouds that drift
apart, reshape their puzzle pieces, and coalesce into new

 

Every year the flowers come back in the same order:
                     first the crocus
like all the teenage girls on the block deciding

First we lose our shadows
walking together into the veiled fields
of shade tobacco.