COCONUT

Every friend's death
whittles me down
to size (or words
to that effect).

I live on an
island no ship
visits. I can
swim, but not

well enough to
reach the mainland
(which is where
mankind resides).

I had coconut
for lunch.

A COUNTRY

In a country
in which no
and yes both
mean no, sincerity

meets its match.
This country also
specializes in
indoor rain

and outdoor
plumbing. Public
places are stored
inside closets

that close upon
closer inspection.

GADGET

The eternal-life
gadget, whose
patent is held
by a society

so secret it
can't remember
where it begins
or ends, is

said to be
identical in size
to the gadget
life uses to

erase us just
in time for death.

WEIGHTLESS

Because everything
in a cartoon is
weightless, you
open your eyes

to find that life
has punched a
hole in you that,
while quite large,

is insufficiently
real to erase
you from the
world. When the

cartoon ends, you
have lived forever.

PARROT

I'd rather not do
this over the phone,
but I'd also rather
not have to see

you again in whatever's
left of this lifetime.
The goldfish that
died when you looked

at it has been
replaced. The cat
that left when you
didn't returned

once you had gone.
The parrot ate its words.

TOPS

I put your father
in an old folks
home and your
sister in a headlock.

I don't know what
I was thinking,
but I don't care.
I put your mother

where no one will
find her and
your brother in an
embarrassing situation.

I put you at
the top of my list.

THE GOOD OLD DAYS There was too much available parking in the good old days. Death was in its heyday. Bits of muffled diction seemed all but silent in the face of opposition. Gold's value was glued to chaos for no discernible reason. No one was surprised when the sky declined comment.