“

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Prologue to a Bidding

Though each single life occurs

in a series of occasions

         striking only by what

blurry context

         precedes them

               So come to know

               what I should have wanted

               to say—from

an internal perspective

there is no series. Only

         event. Music knocks

us down. His brow

               shadowing the guitar player’s

         accipitrine eyes. Tile roofs

glistening under rain.

On a dirt road

a resuscitative walk.

               The kite hits

         the copperhead. Cicadas

halt. The air blanks.

         And strangers crane up

         from whatever they are doing

to meet your gaze as you go past,

         thinking, I am with you, I am

                                    you.

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