Nonetheless
1.
“Nonetheless”
is three words
smushed together
as if trying to shrink away
to less than nothing—
to a singularity—
and then rebound.
2.
Among cosmologies
is there one
where a god
slaps down a universe
like anyone
playing Solitaire,
waiting for something,
anything
to happen?
Combinations are endless,
but materials are scarce.
3.
Nonetheless to know
some few,
each singular,
and whom I’ll soon forget
was “worth it all,”
I want to say
defiantly
as if I’d made a bet.
Blurb
While your last book
connected things
resonantly, your new book
splits them critically.
This gives us pause
in a bright flash,
making your book
necessary reading.
Meaning’s collapse
is your strong point.
All point particles
throb, you claim.
Fans may appreciate the way
pain, too, is a wave.
Extant
1.
Under the wine and pill,
a dim squiggle
of discontent
still extant
in the depths,
tail lashing.
2.
You see another old person
studying the backs of their hands
and know
they too are stunned
by the steep ravines
between bony ridges.
3.
To the aliens
who arrive in the future,
scouring the earth
for iridium and copper,
I say, “Check out the clouds!”
some look like extinct animals,
others look like commas
hung on a clothes-line.
