unbidden morning come thirst come cruel surf & wreck come belly capsized & beached unbidden but come to me in whole bunches in waves balancing me where I am an ocean never before imagined come vertical in the city when cold glitters like blood memory down the spine itching to freeze dull air & sneeze my eye glass bead dilated sore by smoke another new leaf has sprouted from my neck weak green like my sick body my love I am split in the sky I am the tears of a boulder I am older than all the organisms I have ever consumed & I am the sum of none I am a spade in a garden in one of your stories in Spain in a sweet red skirt tending to tomatoes & feeling strong about the future I am all garlic & onion & oil I cannot remember what it means or feels like to rot I rot regardless I am lucky I am less & less & less of a man & I am grateful I am painting a kiss on your shoulder I am observant I see there is a moon giggling over Brooklyn pretending to be pale I am exilic epic pure ex-Babylonian & barefoot I am defective I am Hephaistos at the forge hammering an uneasy love demanding perfection from metals too human in temperament to consent to shape I am the smallest muscle of the body I come on thick a tide of yellow hair invading the shoreline in inconsiderate clumps I am the rise of orchestral strings gradual & impatient come apricot & ochre come color uncolor & brave come willing to be lessoned in the plainness of unbidden morning I am unfolding from you under a bitter cloud
