He begins to notice how all his single friends have dogs
And,wear expensive running shoes, how their
   conversations run

As a doll I flew on a plane
for a lover, convinced his fists
uncovering my blood meant: win.

Every single one gone      Even the gray ones
         the color of his eyes      The black one
         carved from coal shade of his hair

In evening light's splayed radiance,
in a field of scrub and vines hedging a river,
a boy found a black snake sunning itself.

Once upon a time, began the old tale,
and that's how we knew it was a tale. Shackleton's
fare-thee-well voyage, ship marooned in ice

This sixth circle is not a place to receive
many accolades, peopled with the likes found
in the backgrounds of famous paintings.

we called the game Jenny made up driving
back roads through West Virginia

at twice the speed on signs. Foot on

The thing was exquisite and superbly arranged.
It happened in April, and took place on a day
So mild you'd say love purposely made it that way.

Time's one-way traffic won't reverse
Summer's sentimental course
Or force the headlong universe

Here, in the xeroxed panorama on my desk, a man
is crouching slightly in his spacesuit, leaning
forward, hands swung up, as though about to leap.