Noun that I've been watching (91)

committee.

are you alone, I ask, when I call,
hoping to be (thus) alone with you.

now there are two of us: Dame Agatha
in reverse, so we can talk.

whatever we agree, it will be thinner
than its firstness; weaned of singularity.

if there were more than one of you,
I would be more in love, the theory goes.

transposition is the beginning of something
unintended as a consequence of unpaid attention.

the committee will come to (order).
your honor, I would like to register an emotion.

and so goes the day, the daylights.
we might as well be married (to each other).

between us, there is no semplance of other.
we unwittingly continue as we are.

Noun that I've been watching (90)

cigarette.

I saw a woman just outside the building
where I buy organics beets for weekly soup.

she released a whistle of fog colored smoke
I liked. I still like its scent, despite

the roster of prohibitions. sheepish yes
bequeathed to my party favored life before

this onset of blessed purity
for which I prayed.

is it armistice day? I feel as though
the woman with the cigarette shares

the celebration and the disappointment
coming through my pores.

we have not spoken, I just watch
what she is doing, as if

present tense were simple
and accessible and full of unvetted bravery.

Noun that I've been watching (89)

cradle.

anyone can be a chaperone.
tonight, the broadcast
questioning the bell curve
will not be shown.

in its place, vespers
will shadow the child
beneath accoutrements
holding still, while

impositions of desire
remain irrelevant
if allowed.
as will the separation
between the living
and the innocents.

Noun that I've been watching (88)

metronome.

a virtuoso rejects training
wheels. unneeded paraphernalia
lessens the quality
of the full spectrum,
ranging from sine wave to vibrato.

within the invisible fibers
that establish retraction and splay
are pulse points like learned
religious dogma. coordinates
used to describe precisely
where and how things are
and should be, will be,
such that the collective
thinking, feeling, and belief systems
guide the infinite "what next"
of everything that hails
from staves.

a sense of hearing
once inflicted on the species
causes song and silence
equally. causes pleasure
and cacophony. elicits
some form of response,
no matter.

all music happens in or near
the fences. a minute goes by
and another rendition
makes its way onto the screen.
enough to seem a finished piece.
enough to recollect, replay,
retrieve the shock of first emotion.

Noun that I've been watching (87)

fitted sheet.

I live in a recliner. I sleep here.
Between the leather finish
And my clothes is a maroon-colored
fitted sheet.

The idea is that I be comfortable,
Not sitting up. But bedded singly
Here where I live.
Comfortably healing.

When I sleep, the meadows turn
Inaccurate enough to seem
Beatitudes. My memory is offered
A reprieve from sadness.

I hear the air machine
Remove the separation between
Tenor and bass. I hear
Neutrality become a perfect window.

Noun that I've been watching (86)

Soup.

He discerns the shared avidity for sumptuous and seasoned warmth
Together in an afternoon the reach of this
The pure young sweet tea
And the stories that descend mid-day as light
Goes spare Novemberly
With embers coming to the night
With shadows of a factual happiness

The softer our return to selves
The finer the detail and the more accurate
The versions of our treasured store of risk
The intonation of a brother's voice
The safety of a loved one
The gem tones of a voice so sure in its harmonic blend

One episode is all I see
And everything returns: his limelight flavored
Lime, his laugh, his confidence a mirror
Of my tendency to like the same things
Sung, retrieved, made younger than first versions
When we just embarked and wondered what next
For the world we thought we whimmed into true north.

There is a sentence in the heart that eases into place
The fact of nourishment and pause
To live within this moment as it purifies,
Growing continually recognizable amid derivatives
Like recollection and hypothesis,
Unbound into a just and perfect autumn
Dazzling in its softened colors
Tame to eyelight, swift and soft and sure.