owl asleep

and another atom strikes me

in the eye and out the ear

into the night and as silent

a high ceiling sealed in cirrus signs

inviscid transparent a hasty blind

patterns fool with curves and lines

who is true and knows their mind

so well as an owl perched peers

down on an extent black waste mired

still would differentiate a mouse and deer

those recognized are admired

each a schema or constituent  

rising from an organ clear

set away in asleep would we

chop chop

breaking splinters between fingers

filaments ripped undefined grain

curliest oak straight cuts interrupt

a fine swing makes the steel sing

an atmosphere piled here in tumult

then neatly then reduced into thin air

oil is jet black

look at how the axle is frozen

taking on a mocking attitude

and even snapped in two

still stuck and even stepped on

again and again desperate means

hammers and composite toes

loosening the reins

obits

here I am way out here where

so far out west that they

drown in grain

if marching in 

one by one

how long will it take?

black walnuts

the earth is just a lump with lumps

where the squirrels have hidden nuts

now steps turn up nothing but dust

do you recall looking me in the eye

through a lens and row of lashes fine

confiding these finds to our spot

and didn't the promise keep true

not me and not you

know which is and which is not

each stumble not more than a hunch

on calcium

behind the ivory gates

a hollow tongue wastes

time carving an alcove

all pretty arcs and domes

open and home to noon

sonorous radiant stained

the same coffee shade

sun occluded by our haze

water tables

look at the rocks in the rain

the moss is green again

the lichens grey and the again

the rest are red needles

rows of lines scattered under pines

november is still slippery 

just the same as is always

otters are in the lost swamp