Published: November 4, 2010

Ellis could skate across forever,

sometimes scraping.

Ellis felt it with his hand,

rosied by a spangle of sterling stars,

overflowing with tinkling.

Ellis thought that if he could manage things just so,

he could remain in tandem with forever for always.

Ellis was a smart man and saw the world around him.

People were chests of gifts,

velveteen’d love.

(The sky was the continuation of that,

as was the sea and the soil.)

Ellis was warned: they were not stars, but nettles.

there was not velveteen, but burlap.

the sky was only water

the sea was only sky

the soil was only people.

Ellis thought they’d proven his point.