[ the looks on friends’ faces emerging in throng,
speech is a word contrary to a curtain
(claustrophobia of being indoors with all those people
thrown out into a pond, the ripples spreading
off on an individual retreat & return
watching the ship raining out to sea BLUE
in the sky with a petal-trail of birds
of sleep, passive generic desire tips it backward—
invitation at the cliff house dinner party, soon
the looks on friends’ faces emerging in throng,
