After John Ashbery

Living in America as this goes on
it would be prudent to look out for one another.
Terrible events happen daily–
we are left to overcome our ordeals.

Living in America days startle–
similarities trickle, flood, then avalanche.
Here the candle burns like a book.
How will we get over the numbers?

It was something like camaraderie,
banishing the truth-telling– that did us in.
In America, if there is a tendency to heal–
or, it won’t get better after this.