Old Sam Peabody

How many eyes might I see in my life?
Only hers will haunt me
Hers will haunt me like
Mango pits
Or elephants’
Only hers emptied out like
A corpse’s

She calls, Sweet liberty, liberty
The white throated sparrow
While I seek a kind of freedom in
Student loan consolidation

The awkward pause, an unplanned pregnancy--
The roots of my teeth stand
Of my teeth stand like
Two strong legs
Or nested eggs
Where a pair of cormorants sing
Their praises

She calls, Sweet liberty, liberty
The white throated sparrow
While I seek a kind of freedom in
Student loan consolidation

She calls, Sweet liberty, liberty
The white throated sparrow
While I seek a kind of truth in
Reduced car insurance payments

Like falling stars, her eyes flashed then faded
The birds in the pine tree
In the pine tree, need
Only two
Notes to sing
She’s asleep in the expanse between them