16
There was a time I clung
too fast, too easily, to the idea
of rescue, though I had not actually
learned to go deeper into myself.
Border Studies
15
From the western ridge,
beyond the ruins of the old hotel: glint
of the sea like a mirrored surface. The view
made magnificent in this abandoned space.
Border Studies
14
When you took me to Chinatown we crossed
a small footbridge spanning a labyrinth
of sewers. In the dim recesses of shops,
cloudy fortunes pickled in jars.
Border Studies
13
Do not so easily admire
your tears. Turn them
into food or ink, never into idols.
Let them go, the first chance you get.
Border Studies
12
When the edifice is gone, what happens
to memories of selves that lived there?
The one that stood, furiously scribbling
secrets on the wood of the sill?
Border Studies
11
Let me have a room
with a view of something growing;
a woven blanket smelling faintly
of tobacco leaves baked in the sun.
Border Studies
10
It is late in the night. Or too early
in the morning. Someone is making bread.
Or someone is walking into the darkness
with a coin clutched tightly in hand.
Border Studies
9
I thought I knew
this city: from my gate,
the visible boundary spanning
all sides. Wings flashing in the air.
Border Studies
8
Take for instance the word Rupture.
Skeleton key inserted into the lock,
that moment after you’ve signed
your name on the blank.
Border Studies
7
I did not pray to darkness, I did not
fabricate this fate. Among competing
claims the compass points bent
always to something different.