Palinode 9:

This poem is addressed
            to you,
Despite things.

It is winter
   now and
today I am
married
to the idea.

I tried to imagine it & it came to me:

      -You are not here, not talking to me.

      -You are at work.

You are
(plus)
at work.

Again:

I wake up &
& it is raining.

In one hour, you will leave the house.
In one hour, I will leave the house.
In one
hour
the house
will leave
me, leave with me--
you are not inside,
not talking, I imagine
you are still
in your spot on
the bed:

      -You flatten your pillow.
      -You sleep with an open mouth.

I am sleepy and you tell me to lie down--
-that you will tuck me in--
-that to listen to me while I’m asleep--
-that married to the idea:
      I will be not waking
      Not rising, as Lisa says, “like science.”