Sold the dresser where You daubed my face For nights out, glittering Too pretty, you said Lashes like a girl The bird’s eye maple Lifting, on one edge As if some creature Of dune and heartwood Half-slumbered still within You eat with your elbows I replied, the way a gull Fossicks in the dirt Ignoring gold and sea glass For lesser morsels The mirror with The spreading stain Of decaying silver A blemish tiding from the edge As if the dawn sea froze Where you jammed The stems of stolen roses The wings reflecting three times Caught the train In the watchful desert evening Ninety three dollars for my name Leaving you behind In a suddenly, echoing empty room For a discontented world The dresser on the rails Following behind
