Seven Miles Per Second

Escape Velocity

It’s possible someone made this

calculation watching horses

the blur of grass stained hooves,

white foam cooling their necks.

There might be a connection

between this running through pasture

and how fast we have to go

to slip from the particulars of gravity

because we are like other animals

making circles, going back

for apples and sugar cubes

and staying there, tied to a cart

September, So Much Farther

Chrysanthemum

The petals curling over themselves

like girls at a concert figuring out

how close they are

could be an emblem for heaven

golden heads blending in that way

of girls again, lined up to meet their idol

just as dramatic, these blossoms

scattering like girls after a show then

someone says you were killed in Afghanistan

and I think of that book about Japan

the sword and the flower like girls

thinking of what to say when

night vision and drones quit

their usually melismatic tune

technical words getting spun

around like girls not knowing where they are

or why they should be

dragged into this poem. 

September So Far

Cold front moves in

to our place like the old

missionaries I’ve read about

starlings taking summer on

to their busy wings the burden

of warmth.