the trees hold a secret:
so too the smaller plants
and their no less intricate roots
lightning came to us
and made us
and will likely come again
they don't gossip about it
they don't call up a friend
and share abstruse hints
or begin whispering
with cold fog clouding everything
or wander down the street
the stray people
who leave us alone
the secret had to do with electric
rainbows, with animated molecules
and smoking jazz bands
and god how i love you
and, and, and
lightning comes on like madness
and then stays for supper
you set a plate out for it
and the entire room is illuminated
and then everything goes dark
dark, with shimmering
dark, with thundering
sparks and smoke and embers
the trees are also lightning
as are lungs, sirens, actors
magicians of the heart, who starve us into their moment
in the sun
we lean in to catch fire
with eyes shut against the all
***
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