The women were the room and the room was full,
not of women but of cadences and bedclothes, cadences
     irregular

She is of a size that can float there. But
when she opens her body and slides forward, time enters

they said a painting demonstrates failure to see
the portion of a woman not created with brush strokes,

There is a clearing one hopes one is coming to
magically and without accountability but with
grave understanding any minute like a thing

At first sight muffled silence
at first sight the immanence of night
at first sight colors advance

On the day of your scan I make a soup
to wean us from meat. Beans soak and blanch
an hour while I slit open the cell-

Tin cans rolling across the patio
wake me. Creeping downstairs I make a plan—
fling open the door to scare the racoons

It's summer: none of the toilets will flush;
just enough water for a half-swirl wets
the sides, coughs and stops. No more dependable

Manifest from the imperceptible
convexity of the eye
—that by which we know the earth is round—
eternity is circular
but flat

On this beautiful Saturday in May
Sophie has married Michel
and Michel has married Sophie