A black river flows down the center

of each page



& on either side the banks

are wrapped in snow. My father is ink falling



in tiny blossoms, a bottle

wrapped in a paperbag. I want to believe

that if I get the story right



we will rise, newly formed,



that I will stand over him again

as he sleeps outside under the church halogen

only this time I will know



what to say. It is night &

it's snowing & starlings

fill the trees above us, so many it seems



the leaves sing. I can't see them

until they rise together at some hidden signal



& hold the shape of the tree for a moment

before scattering. I wait for his breath

to lift his blanket



so I know he's alive, letting the story settle



into the shape of this city. Three girls in the park

begin to sing something holy, a song

with a lost room inside it



as their prayerbook comes unglued



& scatters. I'll bend

each finger back, until the bottle



falls, until the bone snaps, save him



by destroying his hands. With the thaw

the river will rise & he will be forced

to higher ground. No one



will have to tell him. From my roof I can see

the East River, it looks blackened with oil



but it's only the light. Even now

my father is asleep somewhere. If I followed



the river north I could still reach him.