Starry sky, sea, eye, body, paper,

chart, flower, disposition (much different

than a sunny disposition, though each

is informed by light), circle, laundromat . . .

 

I’ve always loved those few businesses

that stay open all night, their storied

regulars, their gum and cigarettes,

their security cameras . . . Can I help you?

 

We both know that I am beyond help:

a movie star, an alien visitor,

an insomniac, a novelist

with a deadline . . . I am not supposed to be

 

here, but you know that and accept that Lincoln

wears lipstick on my only five-dollar bill.