EDMOND JABÈSWe kill the same way we sing
A girl has lost her train of don’t-care berries
and the lark of her anxieties
The mirrored seasons
throw down their marked cards
My love a country a town a room a bed a dead man
a roof a necklace
The fault is not with the fish-bone veil that we flay
nor with the pearl seeking refuge in the attic
The sailor has no trouble rhyming
His girl displays shark’s-fin buckles
and a layered belt of fawn
My love a country a town a room a bed a dead man
a roof
I have returned the necklace
My love a country a town a room a bed a dead man
The roof has fallen in
My love a country a town a room a bed
The dead man is buried
My love a country a town a room
The bed is unmade
My love a country a town
The room is empty
My love a country
What town was it
My love our love
without a country
—keith waldrop