226

FLEAS AND FLAX (FINAL TAKE)

A pasteurized light
So in fact fluorescent
Means old as flowers
Another black dot
In the cup of cookies
And cream and milk,--
A flavor I wouldn't
Buy because for love
Of affirmation I go
The safe way -- and
Pony ne Basia renamed
Mr. Cat when he comes
Up to the bedroom
Threshold and the
Fellow travelers (I
Can dream of hearing
Them) cheer -- Mr.
Cat I say as the
Canadian butler it
Is so good to see
You but as you know
We have a policy
All the while leading
Him back to the table
Is it from Gary's
On 4th? he sleeps
Under kicking his
Paw dreaming maybe of
The stairs at High Street
Or the beauty across
The way who hisses and trots
Away leaving (this is
Probably it) her wet food
And now an Amtrak horn
Just after a propeller
Engine this poem written
In felt tip on a notebook
Rocking on the top of a lap
Top I hate enjambment when it breaks a word
I drink the flax down
With the milk crystals
The pet store will take
The cat as sure as
The can of pencils spilled
Will make a racket
Like a pearl necklace
Undone for spite
On the uncarpeted floor
Which is not as
Cater-cornered with louche
Interiority as the one the
Balls of my feet poise on --
Have to spray the
Floors tomorrow get
A cotton mask at least
So the ambient -cides
Don't trigger this parallel
Reaction that makes it
Way too easy to experience
Doubt -- so valuable we
Never use it or cut it
With sarcasm and keep on
Royal we-ing buying Boeing
Is not a euphemism
And problems of the self
Do not include "great way"
"Millennium" or "food sales
Is crucial" -- a doubt eater
Caving in the sullen
Retractable oh-all-right
Of the employer exiting
Exaltation and preparing
To consume the uncertainty
Which they say makes you
Feel like you're two places
Like a bed on which
There are two fleas