misreadings (draft)

And when it fails, it fails

continuously, the paper dolls



in their mechanical operetta.

My pockets fill with voluptuous



words like aplomb and orangeade.

I ask for burnt and you give me wing,



and so we go on like this, sistered like

cells to the dark openings, the bracelet



of light marking the horizon. A trap

door comes loose and the bed falls



through three floors of aquariums,

all kissing fish and fiberglass plants.



I ask for umbrella and you give me feather.

Sentences become sodden, uninhabitable.