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Syntax Issue 10
Denver Syntax
{simulations, or fortune tallying...}
  lisa gordon


but are not all
facts dreams as soon
as we put them behind us...

     Emily Dickinson


The phone appears not to ring.

This is because
all my responses these days
are late to discover &
slyly half-starved.

I did love
actually forgetting myself
but when I remembered
love became salt.

If I knew what I needed
(I often think I do)
could I turn & actually see not dream
the harmonies we cut loose?

I was trying to say no
needing to say yes.
I didn't quite realize
& then realizing gave over to
a honed species of
betrayal.

You were the beloved
but because that is rarely enough
I stole away fancying
lions & tigers & long tooth bears -

lions & tigers & long tooth bears
lions & tigers & long tooth bears -

pit stop in the necessary forest
where blasts of prediction
roll over/come true...