Somewhere between Norway and Ireland
volcanic rocks and glaciers leap from the sea
My map has failed me, I’m there

The ruin we made of our garden
Is confusing even today.
Seven trees times three

That night they all gathered on the highest tower:
Astronomers, mathematicians and one magi from Syria
To read in the stars the glory of the King of Kings,

My sponge
fresh out of her cellophane
A starlet, unintroduced to my kitchen’s ways

As we stood by the casket, Momma gasped,
through tears, “Look hard! You must remember her!”
I looked hard, tried to memorize the slight
malicious curl of her thin lips—too red—

We beat wings. We
fly rings. We

Mostly my nightmares are dull. My ex-wife yells
and I yell back. The cat bolts out the door
and bites the neighbor’s child. Or else

It's raining women here in Cincinnati.
Parts of women, parts of one woman—
the police aren't really sure. Last week

 Between my back fence and the drainage ditch,
the county's
                no-man's land, I'd

My Daddy slapped my hand against my cheek.
“Don’t hit yourself. Why are you hitting yourself?”
He held my wrists, and laughed. I cried. My hands,