By James Galvin
When she sleeps
She must be in Senegal somewhere.
The tide goes out from every shore
In the world,
And in the middle of the sea
A mountain made of water
Holds its breath.
Everything depends
On all the wheel barrows
Except the red one.
Ordinary women
Bump into walls,
And Shakespeare writes
One more sonnet
None of us will ever read.
The automobiles of the elderly
Drift to the shoulder
Out of respect.
Ducks tuck heads under wings,
And pelicans can’t make water landings.
They flip like confetti in the wind.
The moon hums,
Unable to rise or fall.
A green kite with a broken string
Thrashes in bare branches.
I stay awake to make sure she sleeps
(I never trusted that wheel
Barrow).
I believe
I believe
I believe
I’ll never break these chains.
You’re just too beautiful as is.