goodnight hymn

constructing the golden moment I imagine

tiny pleasant chores
like pinning a mitten to a rack in front of a fire
the soft glow of the staircase
a circus of stillness
lit by a few plugged in things

life getting heavier every night
trying to see a poem is like trying to guess the size
of my face in a dream
the implied train
of thought

frames fall off the windows
red and green switch places over and over
until I realize I'm hallucinating
the bowl of mush and bunnies socks
I'm in a eucalyptus
white noise fog
wondering if the baby can tell

was it
last year's acid or this morning's coffee
I tripped down a mountain
or the motorcycle's idling explosion
which stunned me while pumping gas
and I stood against the pain in my back
and a leathered braid whipped her back
to watch me clutch my muddy car
but all I could see was snow
white noise burned a circumference
across my face
until I could see again

good is an impression
a faithful rendition
a few interesting people recommended
prayer
and I'm off to the races
but I'm rusty
when I close my eyes
a hand comes down
to show off its watch
and to untie the silky knot
of a bride's tennis shoe
at the rink
strange bachelorette party to choose
for a bride so bad at skating

the tools of attaching a veil
to a ponytail
the yoga teacher on wheels
the teenagers dressed up
in costumes from decades
that aren't funny
the two dimensional panorama
of music notes and implied motion

I love the ease of just one night
the communities that spring up
around risk
like motorcycles and roller skates

I'm surprised by the way emotions belie
and betray at the same time like the un-
wrapping of a crunchy wrapper
disguised by a cough
at a play