Jay Snodgrass

 

Paradise

1. Walled Garden

Comprised mostly of pavement and
Lacking precision

Which is to say a place
Where I am not.

2. In Which the Whole Thing is A Bed

Itself the central axis
As if I were asleep upon it

I would be the foreign perfection
That demolishes it.

3. The Whole Design

Grounds dissected by geometric patterns
Of feet moving,

A lattice up which the stars climb
And pine after the distances they love.

4. Sundial

The moon flower responds
To the morning’s flush with a blank stare,

The circle of a stick figure face
Without hair,

And the blush upon the pond
Is a face of pomegranate rage,

All the tears in the ocean
Weep towards it.

5. Proportion

The purple on the morning glory
Disappears like moonlight,
The flute twisting up as if
Wringing out the night.

 

Bonvoyage

There’s a loose brick
Down by the pool.
It’s been waiting
For your dark night,
For drunk unsteady
Feet. The buzzards
Are already circling.
It must be time, soon.
Have another drink
With me
Before
You go down to
The pool
To get my
Cigarettes.