Mong-Lan

1 only you are allowed to enter voice for the first time the look   hesitant   undemanding body supple as sound the hand   unexpected   a fruit falling skin curves of sand lull below the arms scent of the ocean's salt 2 the body pushed into life's mouth 3 velvet crunch of white under feet   my heart snowy lizards' tails sleeping on branches arms rhyme with bending earth a shadow slants like a calligrapher's quill 4 pass the threshold 5 a genus of the solitary the knitted night       stained-glass boxes where memories ferment unplanned   you come 6 saguaros crack      monsoons consider erosion of rocks water's fire    lit worlds intersect           dusk     purity of ascent ferocious nose of a cat incandescent          through forces stay up waiting planes converge        fates intersect 7 how long does a measure last? 8 sea in the sky knives striking obliquely           army of light beating walls the aquamarine houses are ghosts between crystal trees water steals over skewed floors only this life 9 a cat sleeps one eye opened

ghosts of America roam land of fast food joints defined by movement herds of taxi cabs apartments too expensive to rent trained hands typing digital lives commotion rust-shriek & blur of subway trains O New York!       until my legs detect a din i walk (signs call me back) shoes snivel   eyes a pocket wrinkled youth palsied elephantine ankles   cross-eyed ditty a tic in the face is a chronicle of past grievings a cancerous cell love uncaved i write into this handbook of daytime things   tantrums   & baby paraphernalia claiming words which gather time answering life   i sit & stare into cracks     stars of fate i visit you across the sea of disease between us let us be stricken with poems

& what if hope crashes through the door what if that lasts a somersault? hope for serendipity even if a series of meals were all between us even if the aeons lined up out of order what are years if not measured by trees