WE VISIT FISHMAN ON A HIGH FLOOR


If conscious orbs travel the knowing galaxies
all will be unprogrammed there
the social webs that don't reach the ravaged
heart attack in a public park
will be relentless on that clutch above the ribs
a kitten's fluff of mange on the cracked chin
the beard that grew wild from a frenzy made homeless
lonely my adrenaline no longer
travels past his crushed legs
or visits his orchestra of hospitals--

citizenless, the country floats,
the bearer of DNA trinkets
potatoes magnetize tobacco in a wooden bowl
he is gesturing among the observers of television--
hasn't glanced at the news once, is most aware of it--
is precarious, spare chested
at the edge of a star pattern
telling us how the cold tug of war
between our two mother countries
pulley dredged an ancient nation state
out of the sightless fishes' depth of habit

to bring a multitude of kitchens
and their secrets roofless
herbs into the aggravated modern sun
the lovejars of a mason lost to official history
himself the descendent
here with a fork of tubes in the nose
the snake's tongue, he explains and explains
of our reptilian medical industry

leave my upper jaw in the daffodils
mantis and ants plow fire of cancer
through the lukewarm mulch
my lower plate teeth the texture of barnacles
leave with that nurse knows how to handle my buttons
she washed my blue flannel

my friend with forty ounces three-fourths drained
crooked under his denim
rode me down the elevator, skinny vegan arms taut
hugged and shoved me against the floor map
he said how I hate the system that killed him
I thought of our own shared knack
for doing that, but don't worry he's on his island now
rubber-edged doors opened
the ocean, the vast cafeteria
his grin halved
and the lack of even that.