i. and so down again


                                              his shocked body

  seized by air

                                                               must white
                                                               must

                                                                                                                                                                           what.
                                                                                                                                                                           can’t finish.

                                                                                                                                                                             can’t find him
                                                                                                                                                                             an image.

         there’s always a floor 

                               to sweep even

      when

                                                                                                                                                                             it’s final.
                                                                                                                                                                             kneel.
                                                                                                                                                                               weep. do
                                                                                                                                                                             not fear. there

                                                                                                                                                                             is always
                                                                                                                                                                             a floor.ii. the garden as still as ever

 

                        over his body
                        bent to

                        it over his hands
                        turned
                        earthed

                        it over his eyes
                        watered
                        warrened

                        it over his feet
                        measured
                        maundered
                        nuanced rows

                        it over his fingers
                        turned each
                        learned each
                        leaf in search

                        it over his tongue

                        it his hair
                        lingered
                        bunched tufted
                        to twig, 

                        to
                        it what. 

                        what’s left.iii. only the book had slipped into the grass

 

  friendship

             a green room
             to grieve in

             image

                  a logic
                  that continually haunts it-

  self 

  color

             to give it
             would it comfort

             a father 

                  a compass

  buried 

  in the grass

             the book points
             down to it