
Before that a cat
A moth at Mass, big as a bat
flitted past the host.
Before that a cat
came in.
You can’t do that,
I said.
It was hot that day
in the world,
but cool as usual
here in the cloister.
Further

Corpus

Orante

Deep blue sea
Do you have
a strong mind?
I think I do,
I said, for
when I cast,
I cast far, but I
reel it back in.
Some, though,
once the hook sets,
give line
and the fish goes
and far
and they all go live
in the deep blue sea.
For Annegien
And for Phil Phillips
What is he saying?

Our brother-and-sisterhood
Our brother-and-sisterhood we’ll reclaim
beyond this crude scavenging, past
words and cries in the
dawn of the world itself
Man walks dog

A still-free man
There are spaces within which
criminals know they’ve
done it, but
no one else does
yet:
the space between the
trigger-pull and
hammer-strike;
the space through which
the bullet flies;
the space between the
impact
and its registering in the brain.
Such spaces expand
to mingle with the air.
You may have
passed through one
on your way here.