I'm waiting to hear
whether my application was accepted
for a sabbatical in the Valley
Where Old Gods Go To Die
(or was it Odd Gods?).

Tell me what you think isn't, can't be, poetry,
and that's what I'll write!

          collision:  prelude to attrition
          the War On Violence
          experience of experience
          ochroid vindaloo
          portico simpatico
          to admit admiration
          as disgusting as Carlyle
          reverse-prophecies
          illuminating the finished
          version is perversion

That is best which is unexpected
and deeply satisfying.
But being open to the surprising does not
mean having to accept the preposterous.
Life is so funny that it hurts.
So much.

          Cry, sis,
          it's a crisis.
          Consider the syntax of the sentence
          you've received.
          The spider lilies suddenly appearing everywhere.
          Or the spiderwort. Day lilies. Daffodils.

Salaam, calamity.