Prairie Cell


The pool spreads to calfskin
sleeping in a shake of blue midges
risen to rain blood.
Descent of the copper dream
locks fanning it all.
By morning slops, roughhousing
with icy ventilation and highly inflected neologisms.

For eight hours the sweat has evaporated.
dew has dried and soaping water has run
leaving gun powdering scum
over two thirds of the nation.
Behaving as the wind behaves
playing a night game with marbles
over and over
sodium thiopental
swung into muscled hindquarters.