[Tomorrow is a swallow
faster than death
and coming forward
to close in like
a bracket]
But pulled back and
Straightened, a summer reed
Driving downward and
Deep into the mud
Is the past
Only stirred
By the breeze
Of memory
And today is a gunshot
direct and unavoidable,
Leaving us to deal with
the aftermath, and the ellipsis
of what might have been...