Paradise

I say noway nothought foryou, seed,loosely floweringcomb.Sol’s lost,Iget out,Herr Lind-worm adjustshis cummerbund.Suchtrash onthe horizonbuildingflippingsayingyou’re soalone. Hada Child ofthe Sun onthe phoneand she drankthat sunnylacquer down.The sun’sbaleen smiles,and the sky’swoofers stitchthemselvesback intothe sea’scheeks.The dyingis red champagnein spotless flutes.I’m finding outmore and moreabout you,dog gums andcherry trees,crack rocks.You died.You’ve gotsome shitto do.You don’tyet seethat you’vebeen havingsomeslenderbirth-day daysever sinceyou saidnever again.____Robert Fernandez is the author, most recently, of Scarecrow (Wesleyan) and cotranslator of Azure, poems by Stéphane Mallarmé.