~ after Dobby Gibson
Like a flag left at half-mast since November
Like radio announcements about defunding public radio
Like a black swallowtail butterfly circling the fig tree
Like the fig tree announcing it was the tree of Eden
Like a gate whose visitor pass reader is now set at "Error"
Like the letter J, which occurs neither as name nor symbol
of an element in the periodic table
Like the lonely but noble gases, which rarely bond with other elements
Like the gods who find they too have to change to escape death
Like properties recurring periodically along each row of a table
Like the axolotl regenerating its damaged heart ventricle
Like mountains becoming their minerals all along a gradient
Like a jar of edible honey found in a centuries-old tomb
Like waking up alone in a monastery suspended in the air
Like the axolotl refusing to change into land-dwelling form
Purveyors of fine poetry since 2003.
