for Tomaž Šalamun

The one true way to occur forever—

Be so boring life forgets

To end you. You mustn’t tell

The difference between the candle and

A window, the fresh pie or the string

Of bullets wrapped sideways

Around the officer’s massive torso.

Even if they ask. It is history

That tells us many inventions

Ultimately extinguish their inventors.

Francis Edgar Stanley and his automobile

Met their end against a woodpile.

Perillos of Athens in his brazen bull

Burnt to a crisp the way he always imagined.

For others. In this state, babies can be

Handed over within thirty days, no questions.

You mustn’t wear slacks to your own

Apocalypse. You mustn’t talk

A big snow among a dry desert.

Often times, you will read

Where a certain person died of exposure.

You will ask, Exposure to what?

The answer is life, you answer.