Calling a Wolf a Wolf

... compared to him Iam healthy and unremarkable here I am reading a pharmaceutical brochurehere I am dying at an average pace envy is the only deadly sin that's no funfor the sinner ...... I am less horrible than I couldbe I've never set a house on fire never thrown a firstborn off a bridgestill my whole life I answered every cry for help with a pour with a turningaway I have given this coldness many names thinking if it had a name itwould have a solution thinking if I called a wolf a wolf I might dull its fangs ...
- Calling a Wolf a Wolf (Inpatient)

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There's a lot in this slim collection that I didn't get, but the language is rich and beautiful and I enjoyed the lyricism rolling around my brain. But the main thing I got from this collection is that, I really appreciate when poets play with form. I'm not even sure I understood the one I'm thinking of, Supplication With Rabbit Skull and Bouquet, but it could be read on the first page and then the second, or could be read across the two pages, and I liked how the sentences changed, depending on how it was read.

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None of my friends want to talkabout heaven. How there is this eternityand the one for thosemore clerical with their faith....but I do wonder what gets left out —least favorite songs on favorite albums, an uncle's conquered metastasis,or the girl whose climaxes gave way to panic,whose sobs awakened the feeling of prayer in me.May they be there too, O Lord....
- Neither Now Nor Never

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I keep trying. I wish I was better at reading poetry! I'm including a few of my favorite excerpts. And still, even with my lack of understanding, I'm thankful this art form exists.

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...I try not to think of God as a debt to luckbut for years I consumed nothingthat did not harm meand still I lived, witlessas a bird flying over state lines.I would be more grateful if being alive hadn't seemed so effortless,the way I'd appreciate gravity moreif I'd had trouble floating in my teens.Still, I apologize.My straight white teeth have yellowedand I can't tell a crow from a blackbird.I'm sorry. I'm sorry.This may be me at my best.
- Personal Inventory: Fearless (Temporis Fila)