an invasive species grieves the burning

 

mustard yellow cliffs 

scanty muscled soft and gliding

bodies of scalding sand

stringy tanks moth holed and sheer

endeared to a body 

that wasn’t yet ailing

it was

coconut’s nectar and green algae

that sent the brain to recess

gaudy glasses on an aging punk

string lights above a spit

a dancing ballerino of piña

I was 

raw inside

and bronze on the skin

the cars brayed and bucked

and shuttled to the slaughter

of metered onramps

saw david beckham at the grocery

promoting bee pollen

is the rationale

I gave to perfect skin

and hairs I dreamed of having

or plucking

parrot feathers in pasadena

seedily dancing in the jacaranda

elliot gould’s midlife fantasy

walking the fire trail

with everybody’s dog