Sunday, July 13, 2014

That's Not the Sun Up In The Sky

That's not the sun up in the sky, it's a human heart
-- The Mountain Goats, “Alpha Sun Hat”




That’s not the clock on the wall, it’s a broken knuckle
That’s not the evening turning gray, it’s a photograph
That’s not the warmth of your skin, it’s a…it’s a…
That’s not a child’s bicycle, it’s a stray ottoman
That’s not the dried amaryllis our neighbors gave us,
The one in the window in the spare bedroom
That’s not the hammer with the shaky head
I told you, I told you, there’s just not enough light
That’s not the monkey we saw at the Baltimore zoo
That’s not the stale saltwater taffy, it’s an effigy.



That’s not the proper order, it’s a welcoming
That’s not how you spend the evening, it’s criminal
That’s not the feature of your face I’m familiar with,
It’s neither this nor that, it’s a cameo, a bit part,
A burgeoning, the way the storm splits the gutters,
Rents the rooms upstairs, plaster and paint chips
Everywhere. Oh, everywhere. Not mathematics,
Not vestigial fingers, not scales, not historical novels
That’s not the morning turning warmer, it’s the blood
In our veins, coursing forward, coursing forward again.


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