January 2015

lands on my pretty man’s forearm. Harmless,
it isn’t deadly at all; makes his muscle flutter
— the one that gets his hand to hold mine, or
ball into a fist, or handle a gun. It’s a ladybug,
or an Asian lady beetle everyone mistakes
for...

Then the breakers turning back to brightness, if the light’sopaque ocean-blue sameness in the sky can be said to break,

the way the waves themselves, blue in back of bluelike a color in the eye, fall back to the wall — sea wrack,

driftwood,...

This film, like many others,
claims we’ll enjoy life
now that we’ve come through

difficulties, dangers
so incredibly condensed
that they must be over.

If the hardship
was undergone by others,
we identified with them

and, if the danger was survived
by simpler life forms,
they’re included in this moment

when the...