Iconography

The image wears large round glasses opaque blue

bigger than her upper face

I dont know what she means. You image

He stood there elected. In your eyes

he would escape from the auto parts store to come home and read.

As I see him dead he has black hair and brown eyes

he doesnt have to wear glasses because hes dead.

I havent seen a desert lily in twenty years

but knowing they exist thrills me. One year

I went home and they were everywhere

powerful, blooming to exist and in my eyes. As I could be that

And Ill always see it. Presidents are scum

compared to desert lilies. Oh all right, Daddy says.

The dead talk this way playing but they dont need to write

linesthis line of thought.

I still dont quite know what your poems are like.

Immediatebut complex. Lily? As complex as that?

As complex as us. We are seeing you ...

As we speak and see, together, thinking it.

Do the words relax you? We are them,

reading. Being dead is like reading.