when i saw

it wasn’t: i scrapped it

what i do is

faultlessly

isolated

nice n’ heavy iron clamps

THE BOOK HAS ARRIVED

(you might think you’re writing a book;)

Does anyone actually understand

what blackout means…?

she was a thin girl in a black

body-hugging dress

WE COULD HAVE LEARNED EACH OTHER

nice n’ heavy sharp iron shrapnel

and a dashed red line around

where the cast-iron bed had been

vitality slips my voice

like i was waking up

to the shame it was to bend

the little iron rods

she was a thin girl her long ash-

en hair broke and matted

across the unmade mattress

could have been anyone’s

radiant glowing

short of breath

(as if fromoff a bicycle

with no frame)

a hoarse female voice says

to the back of my neck:

DO YOU REMEMBER THE TIME

WE WERE PLAYING AND IT GOT DARK

i made her pregnant

then fled

because everywhere

the peepers

were hot on my heels

SINCE THEN MY FACE IS AS

HAGGARD AS A MAN ASLEEP

in front of me raw thick coffee

on which i’m obligated to slurp

to catch a shred of toolwork

as from a bloody shelf

someone lays out

more similar things than this

and all the while i don’t look

knowing i’ll get spritzed

eyefuls of iodine”