i.
The blossoms return
to the pear tree. Look closer:
Lighting butterflies!

ii.
So ethereal,
music of Claude Debussy--
perfume for the ear.

iii.
After the barn burned
to the ground, its empty space
is filled by the moon.

iv.
Pocked-marked old pervert,
the moon, lurks behind hedges
looking for lovers.

v.
Dusk. Fireflies are gold
teeth in a gospel singer's
palatial mouth.

vi.
The new bifocals
rest in their satin-lined case,
my body coffined.

vii.
The frozen rain drop
dozing on the death-black twig
dreams of hurricanes.

viii.
Talks about the past:
A cat explaining how to
descend a ladder.

ix.
Trying to love you
is just like licking honey
from the razor's edge.

© 1995 by Robert Phillips

Robert Phillips is a professor at the University of Houston. His latest books are Breakdown Lane: Poems (Johns Hopkins University Press) and William Goyen: Selected Letters from a Writer's Life (University of Texas Press).