Toronto
on leaving Saskatoon

and always the necessity
of being near you, loving you, keeping you

and feeling the air
an empty room with one hotplate
the new mattress on the floor
did you feel how poor we were, how free we were

an arrow endlessly pointing nowhere, into nothingness.

bat

there is a continuation that passes on,
but no song;
what is wrong?

there is a continuation of answers
but no questions put right.

the bat looks at me upside down
out of the window.

birds

this happened
or that happened
flatly like birds.

birds wheel across the sky;
black bird, signal of bad luck.