When I first woke, the room was a bell,
with me as the single tongue inside it,
slow to gather strength, to touch the wall
that turned at once into a door, a ghost
tongue scattered over the world as music.
But that was then. I am so much more
mindful now, and I wonder as I drink
my morning black, is there a plural for the unconscious, as there is for heaven
though we rarely use it. The sun rises.
And we follow, the bronze in our veins
unheard by others, though our tower cries
out with words it cannot understand
alone, each death toll woven, one to one.
is the author of thirty-seven books including, most recently, Invention of the Wilderness (LSU, 2023), Therapon (with Dan Beachy-Quick, Tupelo, 2024), Vault (Richard Snyder Award, Ashland, 2024), Lunette (Wishing Jewel Prize Editor’s Selection, Green Linden, 2024), and The Dove of the Morning News (Test Site Poetry Award, U of NV, 2024). Presently, he teaches part-time as a Regents Emeritus Professor of English at the University of North Texas and performs jazz and classical guitar in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
