I Live Up Here

I live up here

And a little bit to the left

And I go down only

For the accidents and then

Never a moment too soon

Just the same it's a life it's plenty

The stairs the petals she loves me

Every time

Nothing has changed

Oh down there down there

Every time

The glass knights lie by their gloves of blood

In the pans of the scales the helmets

Brim over with water

It's perfectly fair

The pavements are dealt out the dice

Every moment arrive somewhere

You can hear the hearses getting lost in lungs

Their bells stalling

And then silence comes with the plate and I

Give what I can

Feeling It's worth it

For I see

What my votes the mice are accomplishing

And I know I'm free

This is how I live

Up here and simply

Others do otherwise

Maybe

Source: The Second Four Books of Poems (Copper Canyon Press, 1993)