Published: April 3, 2008

He puts dry rice in the salt shaker and uses

Dog ears to mark the suffix of his recipes:

(How to Cook Without Using Rust).

His tobacco flakes collect on ketchup in a Styrofoam

Cup. (Use fewer condiments).

A cala lily casts long shadows

On their faces as time displaces

Neighbors while the pistil sleeps. Her Skittles ad

Repeats colors the way oil puddles

Reflect black images. She hopes

Her mushrooms sprout sooner. Insomniac, she

Burns wood blocks just to see smoke groove.

Pre-dinner commercials retrograde

In slow motion; a hand traces shelves

For freezer-burned Newports, finding

Bruised watermelon jammed behind ice.

And all the apples fall to the floor.