Michael Burkard

The Absolute

I can’t take the time to tell you everything.

I was cold.

I was with you earlier too.

 

Each time I salute I feel homesick.

Far now from the organized kiss

someonw has taken me by the hand,

bought me some little toy

in the express station.

 

At other times darkness is blotted out by darkness.

 

Where is the angel’s grammar?

The angel rises like a lung

and trees and towers are present.

 

It means you cannot go back.

When you leave the room you get thirsty.

 

The blue flags and the brown flags flap against the sky.

The sun sets. The smaller ones walk out for the evening.

Michael Burkard

 Michael  BurkardMichael Burkard teaches in the MFA Creative Writing Program at Syracuse University.  Among his books are My Secret Boat (W.W. Norton), Unsleeping (Sarabande Books), and Pennsylvania Collection Agency (New Issue Press).  His poems appear in recent issues of Bat City Review, Parakeet, and 88.
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