Collectio

1.
Let’s review.  
Which reminds me of a little known fact.  Here
the punctuation hangs,
the words fall away
with habit. All hearts be open    
no secrets hid
Be with           your self.
 
See 
the translucent skin, knotty veins
of your grandmother.      Inhabited, and
so inhabitable.     If the door 
 
is closed, trouble is nearby, 
the ferryman
drawls.  Through a latticework 
 
of canals flows 
wastewater,
flushed north 
to irrigate farmland. 
            Another Afghan woman sets herself 
on fire.             “Surprised Kitty” 
is viewed more than 28,500,000 times on YouTube. They only scream 
once
says a high school student who spent 14 days in captivity
          and witnessed dozens of killings.          TAPILI, Congo.
And with your spirit
you sing. 
      On stage,
 
2.
a baby carriage hurtles 
down a staircase.
Gravediggers uncover, excavate, bury, then 
reverse the process. These, Jewish graves—the work of Muslim, Arab, Palestinian 
hands. 
            And our defense minister says
 
there are a lot of kinetic actions taking place
along that border.
 
                                 Pray
tell.              Mother
 
walks into a pond,
grey head disappears, no one reaches her.
 
           Bent, the cage inside is locked;   
no bigger than a
 
coffin.  

3.         
                                     Thy Lord
 
If the story of a great fortune
is a forgotten crime, then
is misfortune a remembered                generosity?
 
                                   Give as if they were
alms.               
 
Settle, as in
Sisyphus.        
 
                                                Shhh, she used to say;
 
                        and the prayer flags
fray—.             99
 
is not 100, a picker at the Brazilian
landfill reminds us.  
Unfold your hands,
      fall a
             part.