from Live from the Woodley Park Marriott, Washington, DC

                                                Incidentally, I am in the chest market

                                                so keep me away from impeccable locks
                                                for they will prove hard to escape

                                                when I happen to be dropped
                                                in the river. Realize I mean something

                                                different: my escape will be hard
                                                to prove when the river

                                                drops in on me.

                Teeth are breaking in the clock.

                Everything depends upon: it depends:

                                      The absence of a gourmet cupcake
                                      and a good coffee is similar
                                      to a prostitute’s failure to warm.

                                                                  I had wanted a yellow bird

                                                                  on a branch in my hand.

                                                                  What I got was: yellow birding

                                                                  a hand, the yellow of bird,

                                                                  a bird yellowing a nest.