There are things you need to hear that no one
has said or could. It was harder to write a note to myself
on the back of the eulogy
than the eulogy.

In second-hand reports, whales were balloons (thus,
baleen) of oil. A length of rubber could be applied
to an ordinary gas burner to produce
fun bubbles in the mouth. In the absence or imperfection
of optical instruments, you could descend
a telescopic pit.

It had the same effect.

The moon’s light is fed by our exhaling.

If the swifts fly low,
fair warning.

The train’s on time, it just never stops.