This book was written during a week,
September 28-October 3, 2010, when a
thick cloud covered the town. Every morning
it was there. Sometimes it crawled away for
a while, but at night it was out again.
During this time, amid other events,
our neighbor’s cat disappeared. I was
at work, looking through an old magazine
for a letter from 1938. Instead, on page 475,
I discovered a reversed cat.
October 9, 2010 2:03 PM, Bellingham
We Live Below
We All Have Places Awaiting Our Arrival
1971 Ford
The Balloon Man
Someday
Abigail
Sunny Meter
Living In Water
The Cobra Handler
Chapter 10
A Reversed Man
Coyote Alarm Clock
Instant Coffee
Chapter 14
Bellingham Bay, Saturday
The Floating Leaf
6 Year Old Photographer
The Great Speckled Bird
40 Watts of Apple
We Live Below
a lid of clouds
bound to the tops of trees
We follow the crows
leading the way
calling out names
in the white
We All Have Places
Awaiting Our Arrival
Birds find
what they want
a branch
held like a hand
above the river
1971 Ford
While we were eating
at the picnic table
surrounded by slides
and swings and fun
Someone left
two yellow tickets
tucked beneath
your windshield wiper
The Balloon Man
A blue uniform
made round
with hot air
Someday
growing in the woods
will be the dollar tree
and its leaves won’t matter
fallen around on the ground
like a bank robbery
Abigail
the blue flower
wears a paper mask
hides her looks
like Halloween
Sunny Meter
It’s been 3 days
raining and windy
the front step is empty
no sign of Sunny
Living In Water
We feel
every tremor
disturbing
the surface.
When it’s calm
we wonder
when will it
happen again?
The Cobra Handler
“You will think nothing
has happened, but after
an hour you will get sleepy.
It will be hard to talk,
things will blur.
Your breathing
will become difficult.
You will lie down.
Your heart will simply
stop. That’s neurotoxic poison.
It’s not a bad way to go.”
Chapter 10
Last night
watched the crows
crossing our yard
A Reversed Man
On a Frankenstein night
in 1938, Dr. Biocal wired a cat
to rows of lights and switches
and pulled the lever.
A lightning bolt hit,
lit the steep city rooftops.
The world’s first reversed cat
snapped free of the tangled
burning wires and jumped out
the window. Dr. Biocal stood
on the fire escape landing,
held onto the metal railing,
searching the dark.
Below him, the sidewalk rattled
with a big oak leaf. The streetlamp
gave it a black cat-sized shadow.
Days passed, he never saw it again.
A week later, he tried the experiment
on himself. Maybe he’s out there now,
A Reversed Man, walking the streets,
the wrong side of the road
looks right to him.
Coyote Alarm Clock
At 4:30 AM
a coyote wakes me
carrying a box
full of lightbulbs
barefoot across
burning coals
Instant Coffee
A jar
filled with
a shadow
Chapter 14
Mornings
the whole town
flying in a white cloud
No wonder
we feel this way
Bellingham Bay, Saturday
I can only say it’s beginning to read
like a horror movie script.
Saturday afternoon on a dock
in Bellingham Bay, a cold blue sky.
A dying stickleback is flipping over
in a pool of gasoline. It looks like
it’s got a motor in it, taking it
to the next drop of spilled oil.
We don’t stay long. I didn’t expect
so much pollution. We’re all just
riding out the storm. Even my son
tells me, when he falls on the lawn,
“I’m having a bad day.” That’s no lie.
I just wonder, are we in the middle,
or is the movie almost over?
The Floating Leaf
Sometimes
walking in the woods
you will see one
suspended in the air
it doesn’t need a tree
6 Year Old Photographer
“That would have been
a perfect picture
if she was in it.”
The Great Speckled Bird
I was waiting for the bus
watching the sky, morning blue
and pink, with a yellow speckled cloud.
40 Watts of Apple
Unscrewed
from the branch
it’s just right
carried back
to the house
a reading light
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