CATHERINE DALY

Eligible

          "A balloon, my dear, would take us higher."
          —Barbara Guest

I. (what has died)

generations, waves, clouds of gnats, mites, no see 'ems,
rose from their roots in mud, on water, near the latrines,
sprouted wings, swarmed, mated, fell,
in subsequent weeks predator, prey, fertilizer,
links in a chain, a cycle, an illustration, a reason for a belief
(we could no longer misunderstand but apprehend the founding misconception).
Scavengers in the slime left us twitching, itching, human.

[We are like mongeese or mongooses. Mon goose de mongoose?]
The ropes did not morph into snakes, nor vice versa,
and we were not quite afraid, which doesn't prove anything.

What has died? Our examples,
desiccated, dried, we dissect.

II.  (which are eligible)

Persists. This restless pursuit of airships,
heaven for the failures of fiendish imaginations,
realm of gods and goddesses, garishly colored and sickly sweet,
horror tale told by the victim, anthropomorphic science fiction,
get well card

at least earth leads if only to the end

oh, to see a therapist in outer space,
where is closure and boundary
outside of oxygen or gravity,
death and drift

III. (where is this room)

dirigible
poetry, where is this room
three sided, not pyramidical

a snake swallows its tail
a crayfish eats its shell

hells have fallen,
letters, lifted,
we are sad sacks of sand  

   Contributor’s notes

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