Ten Short Sentences III

I
when the sun woke her she knew today was the day—they all wore tie-dye

II
the thunder sounds like a glass rolled on the counter, the birds aren’t worried

III
the Baby in dirt his heel digs a divot he blinks at the sun

IV
train topiary wanted to be a snake and choose where to go

V
since they don’t suffer no one laughs at jokes the sunflowers tell

VI
japanese student look at a picture on a phone, one says “derete it”

VII
in one austen book a sea captain can’t handle a girl falling down

VIII
got paralyzed once but not really paralyzed just full of sheet cake

IX
in 1860 black slaves yell “we’re free at last” in capture the flag

X
devil works too hard—trying to make me laugh he gave me palsy

Ten Short Sentences II

I
the bird screams at me from a nest on a street light that he thinks he owns

II
the boy pedals by, samurai sword down shorts’ leg—cuts me with a glare

III
sidewalk’s heat drifts up and sticks in my hanging hands like I dreamed bee stings

IV
sprinkler nods a circle—a machine gun that says yes to water, grass, worms

V
grass looks at the birch, thinks “soon the birds will rest in my branches too”

VI
today a cooler breeze—the wind also imagines it’s by the ocean

VII
the sidewalks become canyons of moms and babies—they echo each other

VIII
when I came back then for my annual check up, my doctors were all dead

IX
breeze in my ear, blood in my ear, both headed somewhere else

X
every last rock every side it rests on thinks, “I’m upside down”

I
the brainless birch trees will wave at anybody at all, even a sad cat

II
these old navy pants hold up worse than the avengers viewed a second time

III
on a saw horse in an empty field a mouth guard suns

IV
in the bright office a snorted laugh somewhere, stone through the water

V
in the hangman’s house a dog looks at a noose and thinks “a nice leash”

VI
a pier kneels in the pond—time crumbles it like greek cheese, like the avengers

VII
the moon in daytime whistles, hands in its pockets—thinks we won’t notice

VIII
when I finished the book it had become a machine for making ghosts

IX
the happy Baby squirms—a fish from the dark strong on the hook of Being

X
drink from an empty glass you think is full instead of re-watching the avengers