That May, cafes,
this night at the surface,
rainwater levels,
Canal or Magazine
Street sundown
wading, flicker
of inhalation, unlit
lamplight, unmet.
Trafficking in was —
tight iron-black crest,
the singer’s
wrist-lace
Jazz, parade floats of
breath, embrace of
chicory, hyper-conscious
explosives:
In pieces,
findings, myco-
mounds (faded stems,
folded, faded caps);
Sweated and reddened
andouille, in McIlhenney,
hand-held on
sweltering local
radio that April,
a daycare center,
station reports
screaming out
of Oklahoma,
the Alfred P.,
two minutes after
nine, Murrah Building,
now going on, that
Ryder truck;
In vain, recounting
what’s gone.