for K, three études with words borrowed from Seamus Heaney.

[1] As affection purls at the edge of talk, Need to keep distance notes the mind. Harden the dry earth, resist the plow Of language, the harrow of longing.

[2] The fantailed edge of a fell winter Lashes my spine even though it is Summer again, and the cardinal Brood, all grown up, is ready to Take wing into its blood light, absent any memory of falling.

[3] The night with its starred mantilla is a witness To the sodalities of endearments deployed in Spanish: “Mi azúcar marrón” I say, “mi burrito” you reply. So the carnevale progresses, with its removal of meat masks Till we are ribbons in the sprinkled confetti of words.