scratching for not just any old stone but the one that matches a perfect bouquet of flowers, the raven chooses his gift from the display in the sand and drops it at her ankles her turn to examine it and gurgle a slightly embarrassed thank you before they fly off to enjoy a nice dinner, or maybe skip the formalities and find an open-air motel and get busy banging feathers

Oh, girl on a swing, soar into your sparkling day. I notice the algae in the pool needs shocking. I’ve declined my own treatment, though I’ll attack the enemies of my peaceful garden for all the little murders below. In this latter-day jungle, a predator feasts on me while a psychopath lurked in my family tree. He had too good of a run. And watch out for my stargazer lilies. A spectacular and lethal beauty. At Wellness Park I share my grief and he, his. Hey, the park promise

just because one knows all the fret changes by heart and every kind of wrist twist, has a perfectly dented cheek for the ebony chin piece and can maneuver the wood and horsehair bow like a fat man’s favorite fork doesn’t mean the music of the violin should leave the privacy of practice I hope in my public playing I’ve shown I can saw a tune and bend an ear