What closes and then luminous? What opens and then dark?



Kawarazaki Gonjuro steps from his make-up mirror

Into the violet extinction, taste of eggwhite



On his lips.  The ocean's slant eye

Shutting on sand while children at jungle gyms



Parachute upward like seeds

From the dandelion's feathery pappus.



The birdwatcher lifts her glasses.  Halo light

Perforates the curtains of her retinas.



And the valves of every ear blow open.  Then



Rain, not in torrents, but ceaselessly comes

Unchecked out of everywhere with nothing

To slacken it.