Ralph Angel

it's harder to be patient

it's harder to be patient when you're helpless
things make of themselves memorable
my own face forbids it
ten-thousand windmills exhausted and visible
smoke rose like smoke from a chimney
”where will the thicket be?"

like an umbrella on top of a horse's back
like an elephant riding a mouse
restrained the jewelry that hangs in the garden
simplified the garments
a coffee

and the fish leapt
and the bees drowned
how many times you kiss my eyes
my parrot-colored spring

snow water
and three strides
and the eighteen vertebrae I bend to pray