Earth-like (for Aimee)

Hey Europa, you and her satellites
can pull in every direction,
their orbits churn the ring, and tides
down here below-
is there some kind of connection?

Late again, a neon buzz in the window
spelling ‘pies’ and ‘fine Turkish cuisine'
cold take-out on the plate congeals,
I can't sleep,
so I sit up and read aloud
the words I didn’t send her,
my one and only instance of candor

An oriole’s whistle
fades in the breeze
ah, these last sunsets of summer,
a stack of sun block
upon sun block
could a lonely day be any warmer?

So fortune teller, spill the cards,
divine for us an autumn of water,
a deluge, an age of liquid glaciers
of loves drowned and sinking softly
without bliss or a bag of sand
well baby, just hold my hand

Exposure to the volatile half-life
of elemental passion and remorse
soon you’ll start to feel
woozy, a burn inside, or worse-
atom-smashed involuntarily
like tiny particles, groomed
by the underground scientists
ready with their articles of doom

Betcha nine to five with a stake
that the accelerator brakes
before we’re all lost
in the deep hole,
but I think
the odds are better walking
on a tightrope
without a pole

So fortune teller, spill the cards,
divine for us an autumn of water,
a deluge, an age of liquid glaciers
of loves drowned and sinking softly
without bliss or a bag of sand
Oh baby, just hold my hand