Prelude

                          the moon slick and O as                a singing mouth             we could have eaten the                                         trumpeting frogswe could have gotten wilder                                                popped the lake orchestra             into our mouths, each                                musician coated with                          pollen sauce. the ticks        could have gotten wilderstrong-armed into the             Volkswagen and plungedheadfirst in the valley                                                                                       of our skin reaching up                                                                                       to suck clouds. I wanted to sing,                                                  when did you get so?                       when you got so wild                                    the poplars ahh-ed                                                 and the moonwith her aria held the long                  C                                                       and the tire-crushed onionsfloated through the                         sunroof           you knockedon every doorof my ghost town                    the log cabins                            disemboweled by termites                         the lullabies drowned           in glasses of water beside                                                                                      dust-packed mattresses.                                                              and you                                                brought me home outside. over here, the starsin my lungs were saying.                         I’ve overgrown          through the years:        my skin is purple in this light                                                                                                  my eyes are marble.I’ve oxidized and become           brittle. but over here still                                                                                                  and with more wild                                               to sing                      yet.