Lakes Rivers Streams

Fish tap tap tap on the roof Water rushes by through the living room and into the kitchen late night and look someone thought to do the dishes A lamp is on in the other room Two lamps Lampreys swirl in a bucket from last night’s dream I had wanted to dream about birds and all I got were these eels Who could I call to ask what to do? • Who could move the peonies back into the kitchen and who might change their water? Other things get started Peepers Stuck in jelly At the same time spring pushes up against the windows a green screen And sleep Pooled at the top of the stairs Who could I call to make an appointment or swim? Cows float in the bunch Scraps of  brown paper I learn to swim in the afternoon with everyone else my age A sale of  Holsteins and Herefords You can smell the detergent in the yard with the other flowers When I woke up this morning the lights were already on in the clover • Hunkered down on all fours to see it maybe press your nose up against it Like rabbits The bottoms of  her baby feet My son’s hair is still gold and smells like wheat The porch light sluiced through the mown grass so we would know where we were or were not At home or away Just upstream from a cell tower and a box of  Huggies Who would scoop up the backyard and who flush out those rabbits? The neighbors are already at it Just upstream from a can of  Red Bull and a pollen allergy The old mower used gasoline but this new one you just plug into a wall Trims the edges An orange extension cord crawls out from the dining room into the sun The entire afternoon stacked up on the edge of the patio • Dandelions with their heads chopped off and my mother’s one or other dog or is that a deer? Deer file up to the window to look at you A gardening problem in the suburbs Deer pellets Your little fingers opening an apple opening a star Feeding it to a deer The seeds inside were red watermelon seeds A light sweat breaks out over the milk carton Not only that but also fish piled up in the back of  a truck or slung into waxed bags A silver leak Where is everyone? My kids slide inside their wet rooms asleep A bag of Chinook a bag of Silverside? Leaking onto a pile of ferns • A light wash overflows this regular morning Aspirin with codeine inside is nice and something to look forward to outside of a blank slate The cool floors of grocery stores The side of your cheek in the morning a fish cheek Safeway is open ditto Fred Meyer The fridge opens by itself and leaks something almost lettuce and almost milk Just upstream from a pair of headphones and a Weight Watchers Not only a light on in the refrigerator but a puddle lit from inside A dragonfly drags through grass and trash You don’t get to be the grass That dragonfly probly isn’t even a dragonfly probly it’s a deerfly Snapdragons! I dreamt we started the whole day over from scratch Poured that out onto the floor • Not only static in the trees when I wake up but something whipped up into glossy foam Chirrup-chirrup my tree makes syrup syrup so sweet Upstream from a can of Aqua Net and a Pepsi White twist ties Just opened this morning Skipping down the grandmother sidewalk without stepping on a crack No one to catch it or hold it No one to pull the light out of the rhododendrons by hand with their own hands Mom calls from the dog run in the backyard A minor threat A dog floats by another dog Put the coffee on I’ll be right in! A wind from I-5 kicks up her green jogger and there she’s gone Stuck in a tree • No one to mow the backyard or the front even or take a message The eels are male then female and back again They swim under the couch and disappear The sun goes on despite disappointing coverage and lower fees Mom does her hair What would you like to do with this pile of cell phones? What would you like to eat? The baby likes dogs and flowers Bees in the lilac tree have something to say and say it without giving away the ending A yellow retriever mix or black lab or roses Royal Gold or Ruby Ruby That lilac tree probly isn’t even a lilac tree probly it’s a bush Press play Her little fingers can’t yet work a button • Not only a list of ants making its way from a crack in the concrete to a scrap in the sink Flower Carpet Coral or Flower Carpet Pink But milk in the ground Babymeal Something opens in the day and you step right through The ants are interesting they stick together all in a line or a ring circling The rings of  Saturn Oh look someone picked up the tennis balls and miscellaneous toys before plugging in the mower Or a spaniel or a boxer No one to pick her up or hold her? Blight was a word we never used as the roses took or they didn’t The baby? Fragrant Cloud Fragrant Plum The grass is tennis-ball green • But also that deerfly could have been a mosquito just outside the service area I could finally get through to you to reach you! The tips of its fingers Paper or plastic? If you want birds you might try a bird feeder Just upstream from a gallon of  2% and a yellow pack of American Spirits Stick on your mosquito body or yellow swimsuit and swim But also the kids breathing inside their mammal rooms breathing water Someone left the bougainvillea on all night ditto the humidifier Same frequency as the rhoddy’s You could hear it for a long time after Their dream names Sharpied onto the sides of a white plastic bag I could finally do that No one has called my cell phone now for hours • Cherry blossoms call to the surface of things that is their color In contrast to almost everything else on the floor My dream kids shit in buckets Frogs try to get on them Who will shoe their pretty little feet who will hold their hands? This is the earth and sometimes the earth changes colors Now I remember they were horses mulching the backyard Who will polish their shiny little hooves? Who will pick them flowers? A regular morning You nuzzled open a pile of cherries and there it was the thing we always wanted Whatever that was A chain link fence goes round and round like a song They sleep standing up in a circle • Dandelions pee in a corner of the yard a kind of Kodak yellow Lamb’s Tongue ditto the Coltsfoot My horse kids eat something off the ground I can’t quite make out some leather fruits and Oh’s Nosing in the dark Nosing inside of  holes Lay their necks across my one neck Just upstream from a microwave and a tub of  Cool Whip Noses against the sliding glass door squeak a little at night that is their sound Noses against visitors Who will mow around their calves? Mom said she wasn’t sure Not one memory of a butterfly back there but horseflies somehow in the buck grass Eat the roses Dig a little hole and get into it • What should I do with their withers and fetlocks what should I do with their dressage? A parade is nice I shoveled the backyard for a picnic but you could still smell it The tomatoes almost took ditto the basil Not only today but also tomorrow Noses in the dark Manure noses The day curled up in a cup A private life you can hear above the washer or was that the mower even now it’s two blocks away Listening is yellow and green Fish swim in cell phones Speakers set up thoughtfully throughout the house did you notice that? Skin wings on the back of another animal or person Eating out a radio • The day curled up in a corner Butterfly static but harder to hear the closer you are to the window isn’t that odd? Skateboards on the macadam Switch heel kickflip via a Frontside 180 I couldn’t see the kids before they were born though they threw their voices An earful of leaf  blowers Then they were here The day was moving off somewhere hard to see The day was both Curled up on the couch At first I thought I could hear them through leaves and understory but then I wasn’t so sure You both do and you don’t More a davenport than anything else Just upstream from a can of  lemon Pledge and some Gordon’s • Did I tell you that I watered the cherry tree in the backyard ditto the crepe myrtle? Is that what’s it called? Talking to maple leaves makes for a nice morning if quiet at first and then loud Day moves toward the door A box fan instead of air conditioning I can’t tell their voices apart Across the dark green lawn something glows is that a glass of milk? Kids curled up on the coating An earwig floats by another earwig The day listens to traffic moving off in two directions at once like standing in a spring shower Flowers appear without warning And whom do we have to thank for this delicious lunch? These petits fours? That one and only glass of milk? • For instance you walk through the room without looking up The door opens out onto central air after all Light a cigarette in there Those Chinook and Silverside probly aren’t probly they’re Rainbow Trout and Organic Salmon A spoonful of roe No place to light your fingers Or move them back and forth For instance the phone keeps ringing in the other room Beneath a tea cozy Just upstream from a toilet cover and a Percocet More a lilac than anything else An ant floats by another ant A lilac tree But you don’t even know how to have fun anymore you don’t even like to do drugs • Sidewalks glint in sun and trees newly opened oh shit I woke up with a tension headache! Pear blossoms They smell like semen For instance I look forward to seeing you all day No place to put our feet up or say anything Blah blah blahblahblah Quick let’s do it before the kids wake up! For a long time I would cut the grass in the morning before it got too hot For instance the basil burned ditto the oatmeal Growing up I never considered a different kind of  life because we had television It doesn’t seem that long ago A swimming pool in the living room White reverb I used to take off fast but now I take off slow • More a migraine than anything else Something dull in the bushes is that a rabbit? A dead squirrel whirligigs the light That light was cling-free For instance a Coke is nice and something to look forward to and you can do it by yourself I think the day knows exactly what it’s doing Opening a stuck window or collecting a small fee But also you see something out the window I don’t see Moss grows you can count on it Morning dew scratched at the door then cantered away into what we’re not sure of I filtered everything through rain and got what exactly more rain? The good news is ferns The good news is graffiti Those peonies probly weren’t even peonies probly they’re dahlias • But also the kids pick flowers if you let them Some petals are soapy and blow down the street a quick and linty pink and white dream As for TV there’s always perennials As for day care there’s always the grass A pile of nachos in the microwave Just upstream from a car battery and a glass of SunnyD Benadryl in the grass and grass insects tuning up the tardy afternoon a twitchy kickstart Her sneeze in the puffed-out dandelions his little cough someplace else altogether It’s time for lunch It’s time for the sun Just because you carry something from one day to the next it doesn’t make all days the same Everybody out of  the pool! The regular skimmers are brightly colored and constant The regular skimmers are chlorined and cousined • Not only recycling but holding hands in a holding pattern the day spends outside Tied up with kitchen twine and stacked neatly by the curb A cardboard floats by another cardboard The next thing you know the rain has stopped And starts again before you know it with a drop and a drop and yet another drop A cup of coffee on the counter The dogs in the backyard in a lather Just upstream from a VHS player and a bucket of KFC Stars look down and count the tops of our heads A cell phone tower via a pine tree The newly emptied mall parking lot via a lake I got here late Wildstyle via FatCap along the chain link was red and yellow spray roses The top of my daughter’s head ditto the top of my son’s • The afternoon leans toward television and birds A dream can stay on all morning and does so sticking around for drop-off and pickup Just in time for a quick once-over The pansies took ditto the ground cover More an annual than anything else The top of my daughter’s head is astro fluff in the atmosphere Blue jays on shuffle in the regular trees For instance bees make their home in the sandbox Margarine via butter The sound of the interstate via the sound of the sea The top of my son’s head is corn silk shot through a cassette deck playing early Black Flag Alone in the kitchen Mom presses rewind on the microwave Dogs melt into the linoleum • Not only that but you don’t have to feel bad anymore Blue jay by blue jay The birds are real and wait just outside where we left them Just upstream from the new mixed-use building concern and a two- liter of  Diet Squirt Wings in the wallpaper Wings and glue I wasn’t going to do it again but maybe you could describe the light? It’s not easy but it’s a little easier Probly those earwigs weren’t even earwigs probly they were rollypollys Our loved ones are everywhere Leaves buffeted by the HVAC system Their names whispered through an intercom in the evergreens The blue jay’s nesting material was modern and shining recyclables reflected on the surface of  the lawn A twist of  tinfoil in the shape of a swan • A cloud of dryer lint soundproofs the scrape Open wires braided in a regular fishtail braid or a 6-pack yoke in a classic milkmaid Cotton wool jute and burlap Feathers from other birds mixed with regular paper and fiberglass Just upstream from a bottle of  Sumatriptan and a case of  bottled water More a grocery list than anything else A single zigzag Tinsel blings the classic cup Leaves repurposed as sanitizer and a kind of traditional blockwood painted or flock wallpaper Banana leaves and artichokes on fast-forward Cellulose is waterproof Human hair or horsehair in a perfect carousel Not only plastic strips but cellophane draped over the vegetation A cell phone calls from a cornrow • A bird calls from a saucer or plate A wire hanger hangs in this regular afternoon a kind of dressing chair without a seating assignment Dead twigs dead leaves and dry grass Reclaimed corners Reclaimed grass That monoprint of a maple leaf on the platform A phosphorous updo For instance neighbor kids find a nest and check on it each morning balanced on a pile of chairs The ground looks up and then returns to whatever it was doing before Curbside check-in for squeakers Curbside check-in for suet Broom bristles mop string and dental floss An onion bag in a topknot That twist of  tinfoil in the shape of a Park-n-Ride • For instance a light applause breaks out over the swing set slide and seesaw combo Did I tell you I aced the bathroom? A roll of toilet paper Scotch-Brite and a butter knife Probly that nest wasn’t even a nest probly it was a regular four-in-hand Warm water white vinegar and Arm & Hammer An upload of sunlight For instance butterflies have tongues and hang them out in the day to pick up what exactly? The local station we used to get we don’t get anymore Voice mail via an otter A block-graph via a bluebell Their tongues curl in the light of a flatscreen projecting a host plant and a finale Four long two short Sip-sipping a hotspot • For instance the grass looks up and then goes back to whatever it was doing before A very heavy rain followed by a very light rain Did I tell you I replaced everything and all at once? Dog shit in the backyard The day in a V shape planted in parks parkways and yards or seasonally planted around the house An attachment via an acorn A chat room via a catkin If  the day is fernlike and pointed at the ends and irregular or keeled as the times and styles change A four-ring box clutch via a pillbox A glass organza via a clinkerbell Those blue jays probly weren’t even blue jays probly they were finches You can’t put the day back together again A decal of a hawk silhouette Just upstream from a pair of  headphones and a Stouffer’s • If  the day is tapered twigs leaf stems and a white undersurface tolerating the usual errands A small tree in the shade of a tall tree An ozone inside a loophole More a Lean Cuisine than anything else We let the grass go yellow on purpose and drove straight to the store My daughter pulls the grass up with her fingers My son uses scissors If  the day is deciduous and thin with waves at the margins and common or common enough Did I tell you I vacuumed the carpets and dusted the picture window? A picture of what? An airplane headed in the direction of  the Willamette Meanwhile the river looks up and then goes back to whatever it was doing before A landing strip via some riprap Our futures in a bindle • If the day is untidy looking and aromatic with end-leaflets narrowing where the sun is lopsided and lobed I’ll wait outside We can’t leave the kids in the car anymore Or wind or cows or people Schist in your shoes pick up where we left off A photo-offset of a fern into a spreadsheet The blue flame in the new gas stove has fins If  the day is irregular on both sides and pebbled or modified by acrylics and permanent Black toner cartridge via a starling A stop bath via a sparrow The afternoon clears the table for flowers and more television Not only whatever’s on but a pinnate in the past More a dinette set than anything else The day ticking over in the fixer bath • Meanwhile a northern flicker bends a piece of plexiglass into a wind chime Did I tell you I raked the leaves and put them all into a black Glad bag? Meanwhile a black-capped chickadee One kid asleep upstairs another on the pot Bird clutter marks the spot Just upstream from a newly relaxed regulation and the brand new Jiffy Lube A birdbath in a dribble! A damselfly vacates the day in a blur A mosquito on a daisy My daughter looks up and then goes back to whatever it was she was doing before The afternoon divided up into zones Where her new sounds meanwhile astound the daylight on a leaf An off-brand beetle duct-tapes the water X’s & O’s • You don’t have to if  you don’t want to Pink rollers via a ripple Little white sticks via a balk Meanwhile a deer tick slides into the very last reserved parking spot Under arms around the ears back of the knees and between the legs Meanwhile inside a belly button A pink parking pass flutters between the seat cushions A speckle-winged quill vacates the day in a blind More a leftover than anything else That grass probly wasn’t even grass probly it was a roll of   Diamond Pro Fescue or Jade 50 A blue tint ditto a cloud of flies Meanwhile a regular water strider enamels the edge of a pond making room for you and the rest of  the day A stork inside your mind Dots and lines • In other places we felt much the same as we do today only more so Meanwhile a mayfly floats by another mayfly A hard drive via a hedge A Bluetooth via a squiggle Oh look someone remembered to take out the compost Meanwhile mites in a double clasp and peaked felt number wish you well and more White foam flowers on a polished floor Who will tape their wings back? Who will fold their corners? A common green lacewing has an appointment someplace else altogether and will keep it To a thrip or a honeydew? A grand tour Just upstream from a stackable washer/dryer unit and the brand new FreshDirect The loop that keeps happening in the leaf litter • Before you know it that light has changed from checker mallow and milkweed to something more en-suite Whites and sulphurs Probly that lacewing wasn’t even a lacewing probly it was a green smudge Hey! Hey kids! Meanwhile a green comma or a common ringlet Their wings are made of cardboard and Reynolds Wrap A rubber band here a rubber band there Meanwhile real sunlight sneaks up the wall somewhere between butterfly yellow and butterfly brown Not a dream really just an ordinary afternoon What color is that goldenrod? A focal point via a knob The new streaming service was all aflutter and temporarily unavailable Not only that but a golden hairstreak One kid on the couch the other in a bole • Just between the dimmer switch and a short circuit of  local or overlit fritillaries Hi-Liter yellow and chisel tipped A bucket of  honeysuckle Bring the car around I’ll be right out! Did I tell you I aced the console with some Orange Glo ditto the late afternoon? They blanket the lawn in summer A long dash followed by a short dash Right between a commotion of  track lighting and a dribble of newish antibiotics A newish drop in the bucket An overflow of stillness and snacks My son looks up and then goes back to whatever it was he was doing before The day is nonslip and early A download of nervy and rainbowed fluorescence A bedhead floats by another bedhead • Just between the newly installed porch floods and a small handful of cabbage whites A vertical frequency to it A sprinkle of what exactly? Not only that but our intentions stacked up in a swirl The bunting’s vocals were lip-synced and weird ditto the dishwasher’s A voice box via a gorge A yellow Lego on top of a yellow Lego Right between a semi-transparent aftereffect and a latticed or crosshatched bit of fluff An upgrade via a wrinkle More a floater than anything else Probly that bunting wasn’t even a bunting probly it was a Western Peewee We began with sliced apple and later moved on to sunlight An orangetip on a pincushion A pip on the carpet • Or an inverted firefly blinking on and off through a drift of dandruff flicked off the TV set A flittery cat’s eye Yellow green or pale red Just upstream from a can of  Sea Foam and a bag of Birds Eye Single Steamers An additive combination of  bark dust and grade school Or a perfect glow stick The tops of trees Or an elliptical wastebasket where my son might pick out a glow worm or a lime green flashlight fish The day has its limits The yard looks the same now than it did just an hour ago Same rush of  Oregon grape same hurry of salmonberry The names for things slip away A rotary via a spiral A router via a tangle • Or a streamer bobs its way across the living room trailing a yellow popper through the top water My daughter ties off an improved clinch knot A perfection loop The day is construction paper and laundry It syrups the corners Not only that but the remote control scuddled in the wingback Wide open spaces Or a glint in the kitchen counter where a local slope wrinkles a bowl of cereal on the new Formica The toaster shimmies A splake floats by another splake Did I tell you I folded the clothes in a basic reverse squash or rabbit fold ditto the onesies? The day is sound checked and perennial Appearing and disappearing in the hydrangeas A plus sign followed by a minus • Or a speck of something else altogether some mica or something made of  OJ bits and squinting A dreamy dusky wing Meanwhile the grass is back Butter and eggs are seamless and windowbox the stand mixer organic dish soap and phone A private suburb here where we put things A plug-in via a stob Rods and cones Or cuckoo bees spun out in a bright wash of parallel and early or late climber roses Just upstream from a buffet-style weekend special and some notable losses Pollen paints the car and cleans out eczema Wicks out the margins Wisteria points up the positives of nonverbal choral work Or music you can’t hear Water music • Or a flowering piggyback petals a residue of  light-to-dark jellies and purple glue stuff A smidgen of  Windex A gimlet in waves Probly that cat’s eye wasn’t even a cat’s eye probly it was a regular toothpaste At the same time heaps of clouds bounce off the driveway I plated the snacks ditto the expectations Burnt toast and bitumen Or outside the voices of other children climb up Taller ones Pedal bikes pushed up and down the walk all day transfigure the pavements in a wired curlicue A fiddlehead with arms and legs Or taller trees in a chase The day is non-glare and leafed out stuccoed by robot beetles One television is off the other is vertical rays of  light • Or a #2 pencil beam crinkles the cornea in the backyard feathering seed starters and stems The day feels irreversible and will stay inside a Dixie cup Things stick to the door screen Windy light broken off and moth dust broken off Ribs and holes Not only that but a complicated system of noticing and a dob of apple juice You blow on it and it glows Or a refurbished working day backlights the hanging geraniums a handful of pink fiberglass A lake effect glancing off the sideboard A streamer via a stickle A cooler via a brook More than that those green and gold flecked inlays look away A creek bed in the hallway A spiral floats by another spiral • And pink and blue transparencies gel the day each morning And pansies more than you You don’t have to wonder about the sky anymore you don’t have to ask what to wear Just upstream from a sketchy weather system and the new overpass High on glue The raindrops can’t lash the ferns they can’t flash flood a pinna Then the sun comes out again And trees are stressed out and can’t get going either It’s dinnertime breakfast is over Over and over my son’s voice across the lawn a white sparkler then a green sparkler then a white Someone comes running Probly those geraniums aren’t even geraniums probly they’re trailing accents Local traffic Left to your own devices you would watch TV clips all day and make more toast and then what brush your teeth? • And vacuuming the carpet makes a nice smell part burnt tips part wet dog It’s difficult to think of something to do A snip floats by another snip I guess what you’re doing today is doing chores I picked up everything in the house and put them all back down just to the left of themselves Pajamas and urine A throw rug via a jelly roll And its color time and petal time again & leaves lift the light outside the window just enough Let the flowers back in ditto the dog You only have a few minutes for anything it’s hardly enough time to get started Hey! Hey trees! Did I tell you I scoured the linoleum with an X-Acto and cleaned out the wayback? One tree is a pine and one is a maple I know that One tree is you • And a handheld  Japanese coffee grinder collects dust and would after any wedding not just ours Bags of  groceries wait in a brown line A skater floats by another skater Green feedback Golden raisins If  you want to hear lake water lapping it up those thousand tongues pushing past duckweed you’ll have to imagine it A basin inside a teacup And slices of orange radiate in a Ziploc No one uses sprinklers here except the university we’re just as happy with people Just upstream from your first home and anything that’s leftover Repetitions in crinoline Or dream neon If you want to hear the lawn service line up edges in sunlight you’ll have to wait until Wednesday In the morning the kids come running down the stairs