:to undo
the wires, stem by stem, leaching
out the bruises the torsion
in sand; count 9 weeks
&
they open discreetly
cogwheels catching cogwheels
as in a clocksmith's dream of heaven
so many military decorations!
. .. Unwound, they must take up
all
time.
From the park-attendant's wheelbarrow
there are spares, strays, seconds
lobelia, alyssum, snapdragon
&
the gross tobacco plant
that holds its breath
all
day
to breathe at night
from the roadside
like a perfume factory in Spain.
Another
gift
from the public garden,
transplanted it wafts upstairs
summer nights meaning you to do the same.
Isn't holding your breath
a feat like happiness?
At length you see little stars, little fishes.
"If it grows," he said,
"It
is a cutting."
He had 2 families
&
lived to the end
in a basement with a woman
who received his families
&
daughters
at church that day
like one in the safe-keeping of a trance.
And she was unharmed.
Neither
is
his garden rolled up under
him
like a rug,
pansies fade in
&
out
making cat-faces;
the garden of the held-breath then
one draws a long last, count ten
it spans like a rainbow
the negative of some photograph
the flowers each in a different shade of dark -
he believes in them.
