The Mills Brothers sang about them
Must be fifty years ago
And science has long figured out
Just what makes them glow

But still when you see one
It’s sure to make you smile
And they can see each other
From a country mile

Hey look at me!
I can light up half the bark on this old tree

Hey can't you see!
The precious gift to you in me

And pay no mind to Jim, can’t you see...
His butts a little dim"

The odds are stacked against them
In every single way
With twin-engine Beechcraft
Shootin' mosquito spray

And the kids they still do it
Tear them all apart
And of all things, sickly things
Make slimy diamond rings

(insert whistle solo)

Trees are getting dozed down
To make room for a bigger town
And scientists want their ***
For Luciferase

But tonight he's not worried, 'bout loss of habitat
Got just one thing on his mind
Her yellow-green behind

Hey look above
A flyin, dyin, dynamo of love

Let it go by
A wonder of the world has touched the sky

And pay no mind to Jim
Can't you see...
His ****'s a little dim

And so when you see one, flashing on the fly
That's the male and like most males, just a loving guy

And laying on the leaf, in brilliant dress that's all aglow
Come to me and introduce, we can reproduce

(repeat whistle solo)

Jasmine and Sweet Olive
Grace the evening air
A silver-sliver crescent
Rests into the west

The din of tiny creatures
calling out for love
Stars wink their approval
From the velvet above

I carry the runes of you in my pocket
Smoothed while recalling
Your blank walks

A wash of blackcurrant and
Holly in your hair

Wandering aimless by shorn clapboard
and storm kestrels overhead.

I think of your eyes
While watching Venus blink,
Tiny speck of green popping

Out of the witching hour’s emptiness

Distracted by a sweet orb only daring to show itself
in time-lapse Morse code-

City firefly’s shy hesitant glow
of phosphorescent luciferase
Impermanent tattoos in the humid air

Asphyxiated by the hum
of flowing electrons by wayward wings
Vintage and neon.

I sweep your edda into the hearth
Ashen mingling of myrrh
and incense sprinkles its cinnamon

Onto bare exposed brick.

The lightning-scarred tree
with its bullseye of char
Burned inside-out,
Cindered base,
Reminds me of our concatenated dreams.

I touch the ghost of you
Roaming the paths of King’s Chapel
and Granary Burial Ground

Farsick and windtalking to yourself.

I still taste the ozone on your lips
After you rained all night.

I throw the bait of you into the water
and the sunfish of Northwood Lake nibble the worms
of your toes.

And I watch the sawing motion of your thoughts
on DVR over and over
Hearing the fibers tear

Knowing the damage of blades and friction

How your heart will always bear
All ninety stone
of Hunters Lodge.

11:25 am

some stillness here
that I fear to break
some gentle memory
of the body
some luciferase show
of a little plant
something still softer
and still small
like the tickle of an ant
before it is revealed
or the startle
of a single hair

say

I spent years trying to break
the horrible spell of past
to free myself
from its shame
but such nights
bring it back
like an abandoned baby
in their cautious arms
and when I take
it does not cry
or scare me with frenzy
it sleeps beside me
chubby-lipped and pillow
and the nights do to
beside me

I don’t know…
some stillness here
makes us one