Lisa Coooper

POINT OF ORIGIN

some juju this turned out to be
amid the general slump

              the prince observing treatments in a nearby hospital
              where lives were saved & used as leverage

I wondered if the bed should move for the summer-
can't find my notes

             if you transfer
                       to a new place

bring your troubles
pack up your cares
for the long haul

            an allergy is nothing
            to sneeze at

in this botánica, shadows of a San Simon
in black fedora- he smokes

with his rifle & a bag of gold
obeying some inner force

            it's time these plants were more elaborately
            loved

I'm looking for
a black wire stand
           with wheels, in shade
           with branches hanging down

clean as the courthouse where my parents married

clean as a silver bullet & the box it came in

clean as a nice little candy

AS IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDED

~for the dire girls

like you're on fire!
                                wait- like the ocean's on fire!

          then you're rolling up a lazy river
                                          & it's evening time- the gorgeous sleeper taunting you
                                                               with his inscrutable relays-

                               another hitch in the transmission-
                                           like on the way to how they discovered
                                                      nuclear fission

                     while you wandered off & the credit falls to others
                                                                  years later-

                             dross & dunnage—

                                      how we use our unusables: the true measure of a culture

                                      & what can you safely leave in a bike basket at the base of a hill

                              climbing the hill in dresses— so odd even the blind boys
                                                                       ask you for more information

                                                  as if the world depended on you

                                        coughing & coughing to cough up a penny

                                        no time for real healing
                                        so pinch it up, use Superglue

                                                              the approximation of the perfect whole-

                                                    home-                                safe-

                                                    where you welcome back your accuser

                                         where you try & watch

                                                                & watch

                                                                           & try some more

VAGABOND

           could be the name of a motor inn

                                  or a mercenary

                     or a Victorian woman collecting beetles in the Congo
                                                       extravagant
                                           (her billowing dress saves her life on numerous occasions)

                                                                 or the kidnapped blue-eyed bride
                                                      of a famous warrior
                                            eventually stolen back by her own people
                                            then dies of grief

                    vagrants

        3 deer on a hill at the edge of
                    chrome city

                                                            lucent
                                                            vague
                                     tied up around the eyes

                         & what's the motor
                                                         vs. the engine

                         what's the matter
                                                          in my opinion

                                              think think think

                                   wayfarers: a brand of sunglasses

                       twice wed, 3 times blessed
                                  twice tossed, 3 costs
                                             twice-cooked
                                                         2 times washed, 3rd time's lost

                                             an episode of
                                             hitting an intruder
                                             with her umbrella

                                                                  oh you bag of bones