Require

Require 5/18

A project starts out full canteen clear
liquid running on the chin A clear
night stars breaking foam on waves
twinkling in the eyes forming new
thoughts like holes in a sieve A broken
speaker draining thoughts from the
mold

A project silts down into a gulf posing
as a statue of a dead singer staring into
dead oil-filled gulf waters A boring word
of the day repeating for weeks A shoveling
record warping itself on the voices of
the Andrews Sisters

A project stalls a Pinto on I-40 on
the way to California A smearing
butterfly on the windshield its spreading
blues mixing with washer fluid clears
and running like a river A sudden dam
Hoover strutting out of the hills
and grabbing at Texas

A project sits down at the table breaks
loaves and drinks sand A spread
of mustard A calming down and stillness
babies in cribs covered in blankets paused
rotating reels of film the edges worn out
tracking and falling tracking into frame