out of the smoke 
and fire it must have felt
like flying
those 10 second journeys
of the 9/11 jumpers

watching 
the forensic scientists 
making their case 
on prime time television 
the assassin's widow agrees

black holes
frozen stars of heaven
rotating or still
beyond the day's tyranny,
the speed of escape

winter written
upon the remaining leaves
a chill settles 
in her bones and suddenly
she feels old and in the way

Cupid's chemicals
usher love in and out
fading embers
the hard part of love
kindling for the fire

twelve crows
flying through the snow
russet trees
fat with buds for the
month after tomorrow

louder
than my tinnitus; hawk-
enraged blue jays
shatter my meditation
with a salvo of insults

their marriage
a one night stand lasting
for six months
the blame well assigned
ivory pomegranate, umbrella pine