Mamma didn't raise no fools

He died before we could honor
him correctly. Candied

impulse through the brain.
Your will subverted

that's a tree, a treatment,
a genealogy. Oddly enough if I need something

someone is sure to give it to me.
To supply me with it. Oddly enough,

it's not about cutting slack
but about positive reinforcement

Detergent in the sense that it is

emergent

deterrent
where the nascent

meets the latent
I put my tongue in the path

dug up some chestnuts.
"We'll keep looking

for a place for you
inside of nature"

I can't remember how I died.
Writing something down at the time

the grave had been disturbed.
Next thing you know, I'm making

an entry in my diary: No use
letting it get cold.

From Figment: Poems, by Rebecca Wolff, published by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. Copyright © 2004 by Rebecca Wolff. Reprinted by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.