iv


the bees have declared an amnesty
their dances are only lyrical effusions


and why are apricots so illiterate?
yet they diffuse their promiscuous perfumes
sliming the earth with rot


one has always mistrusted the language of cats
and their devotion to hygiene


so many things slide and tumble
churches flounder in tides of mud
shoes dissolve in a week


and why do scissors keep disappearing?
if you ask nature for absolution
it senselessly posts you flowers and blood


and the fronds uncurl to tinier fronds and so on
which seem meticulous synonyms for murder


like a froth of hands on metallic surfaces
making and unmaking
and underneath the mindless carnivorous ocean