in deepest Brittany, she rides
���the evening � ears afire � a gram
of dinner napkin
���marking the corner of her smile

her hum gives the buggy's wheels
���a colored tilt

���������������pines rise

on blue thermals above the lake's
closed ears and Jeanette-no-pockets
���puts the silver eyes of birdsong
in her lap, lays thirty mice on a dime

cropped August recrosses the water �
��only fires and leftover bells slow
the winter at her feet ������she flies

���to Tahiti������the all-out blue day
buys Gauguins�s kids with the little good silver
�������left in her purse

on la Rue Mouffetard, she sells
���her little white hen, its clutch
of flushed eggs�����with the richness of wolves
and poise, she replenishes the days

����January gargles Chanel no. 5
���������ballerinas toe the time

~

First Place IBPC Jan '04
MiPo Bonsai Project '04