"Energy, Time Signatures."
by Joseph Quinn

We are delirious, talking into our hands—

          sculpting messages, forgetting things.

I’ve taken a trip by the bridge again

and put your likeness in the soil.

We changed positions without music.

          We made gestures

with our eyebrows, tilled stories

in ribbons and barcode—

I’ve slept in your furnaces. Nights we’re tunneling,

          your chimney

sputtering ash

and goading me to amusement

as you put it all in your language.

          You’re saying it’s ridiculous,

this conversation,

and laying claim to each of us—

Then follow your thoughts down into the lode.

          Arrange the channels of your strength:

your temperament, your wellness,

folded paper, songs.

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