Momentary Pact

Be provisional – pragmatic – do
enough to move ahead a bit: to slip
a little through the slit – invite a touch
more light to cradle and bestow – allow

the thing to show – be caught –
shoot out, up from its shelf – permit
a slight sharp glimpse – before it sidles
quickly back deep to the shadowed part,

the darkest cavern of itself – and minces,
cringing, hinging there to private
tiny tugs-of-war between the drugging lure
of emptiness and an unconscionably

ravenous desire for more; never mind:
remain alert, and bind whatever
drifting ends you find as they come loose:
keep it all from flapping madly like

a frightened goose, shedding feathers
everywhere, losing every dare: reassure
and soothe it into sleekness: feel
its trembling and chaotic heart: cup it

in your hand: love it like a dove:
let it snooze, remand its worry to
its dreams, and start the struggle over
in the morning, squeezing “is” from “seems.”

When everybody in your family dies,
do you become them? Am I my mother,
father, brother? I think I’m moving far more
than from one apartment to another.


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