A Ribbon the Most Perfect Blue

           

            I saw a river once

So I can summon one

            Close your eyes

 

What can you not summon

            I live inside a summons

High up in a stone tower

            From the window

I see a blue river

            Like the one I saw in Mostar

As a tourist  

​

            If you come to my party

I will say thank you

 

            For answering the summons

I will show you

 

             Edna Saint Vincent Millay’s sister’s copy

Of her collected poems

            With flowers

From steepletop

            Taped inside the cover

But let’s say we’re not at a party

            At all but in

A cathedral

            Because you’ve seen one once

And you remember

 

            The people chattering

It is a tourist cathedral

 

            There are velvet ropes

Blocking off

            The sacred

Let’s say the hem

            Of mary’s dress

Is blighted white

            In one ripple

As if the sun has

            Tortured it

For years

            With relentless

Fixation

            Now you see

Where I live 

            In some

Spotless

 

            and