The word of the day is: Ingenious
– cleverly inventive or resourceful



Sometimes I’ll look at a word and I’ll think
“Oh, that’s ingenious”
Already melancholy in mourning
over having forgotten it

Honking once while I’m blasting it
– windows down, repeat on –
merely flying right past it
with a speed that surpasses free recall

I’ll throw my hand out too late;
out of reach and can’t grasp it
Both feet pressing down as if shattered
by gravity, post peak pride-time free fall

I wish to be and be in its temperamental casket
That ingenium, a supreme state of being
I won’t ever work for but still
I envision I’ll catch it

As if a permanent sickness
rather than self-authored static
As if I blink out a prayer; stick my hand out; am lucky; and still living
Until I’m suddenly clasping it

All I’ve ever desired
And all I had to do was ask for it

Things I won’t:

Let myself go
Set myself free and wait to see if I’ll come back whole
Split wide open for you to slide into
Busticate

Things I do:

Hold hands and wait for them to let go
Never drunkenly fornicate, hours late turn early mornings as we wait
Slip into you, mouth open, eyes shut, all facade
Pick away the pieces

Exampli gratia:

Here, in the sun, looking straight forward over the green lawn onto the bacciferous frondescence
The space between the building where psychopathology was taught and the building where our intelligence was tested
– buildings made unsafe and marred and subjected to presence –
Here, I just am; there is no absence
As far as my eyes can see, the “where” is here and the “when” is now and I am alone, listening in to today

A bee flies by and draws my eye to the peripheral timescape
Inside the dark window to the left we sit in silence and wait for a pre-school class to walk past so we can continue a lesson that ended a year ago
Behind me looms the auditorium where we partook in curiosity
Beyond this greenth, you own the space
But on this bench, there is no absence
Here, I can breathe, lone as I am