After John Ashbery

Living in America as this goes on,
it would be prudent to look out for one another.
Living in America terrible events happen daily.
That’s how we overcome our trials.

Living in America the days startle with their similarities,
a trickle, a flood, the avalanche.
Living in America, the candle burns like a book.
How will we get over the idea of numbers?

Living in America – it was something like camaraderie,
and banishing truth-telling that did us in.
Living in America – if there is truly a tendency to heal, well,
otherwise it won’t get better after this.