.

ction>

      Note to the Reader

      Copper Canyon Press encourages you to calibrate your settings by using the line of characters below, which optimizes the line length and character size:

      Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

      Please take the time to adjust the size of the text on your viewer so that the line of characters above appears on one line, if possible.

      When this text appears on one line on your device, the resulting settings will most accurately reproduce the layout of the text on the page and the line length intended by the author. Viewing the title at a higher than optimal text size or on a device too small to accommodate the lines in the text will cause the reading experience to be altered considerably; single lines of some poems will be displayed as multiple lines of text. If this occurs, the turn of the line will be marked with a shallow indent.

      Thank you. We hope you enjoy these poems.

       This e-book edition was created through a special grant provided by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. Copper Canyon Press would like to thank Constellation Digital Services for their partnership in making this e-book possible.

       No water, no life. No blue, no green.

      oceanographer Sylvia Earle

      Contents

        Title Page

        Note to the Reader

      1  Self-Portrait as Scallop

      2  When I Am Six

      3  On Listening to Your Teacher Take Attendance

      4  The Origin of Feathers on My Windshield

      5  Sea Church

      6  Mr. Cass and the Crustaceans

      7  Penguin Valentine

      8  from The Rambutan Notebooks

      9  Two Moths

      10  In Praise of My Manicure

      11  End-of-Summer Haibun

      12  When Lucille Bogan Sings “Shave ’Em Dry”

      13  The Two Times I Loved You the Most on a Farm

      14  Aubade with Cutlery and Crickets

      15  When You Select the Daughter Card

      16  At the Pumpkin Festival My Lips Burn Bright

      17  Self-Portrait as Niagara Falls in Winter

      18  Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate One Second before Waking Up

      19  The Falling: Four Who Have Intentionally Plunged Over Niagara Falls with the Hope of Surviving

      20  Forsythe Avenue Haibun

      21  Meals of Grief & Happiness

      22  Invitation

      23  Inside the Cloud Forest Dome

      24  I Could Be a Whale Shark

      25  Love in the Time of Swine Flu

      26  Self-Portrait as C-Section Scar

      27  The Cockroach Responds

      28  Andromache Begs Hector to Reconsider

      29  When I’m Away from You, I Feel like the Second-Place Winner in a Bee-Wearing Contest

      30  In the Museum of Glass Flowers

      31  Dangerous

      32  Travel Mommy Ghazal

      33  Flowers at the Taj Mahal

      34  While Riding an Elephant, I Think of Unicorns

      35  Self-Portrait as an Egg-Tempera Illuminated Manuscript from 1352

      36  Letter to the Northern Lights

      37  Perch Bones and Apple Aubade

      38  This Sugar

      39  Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth

      40  Psyche & Cupid: A Reimagining

      41  Venus Instructing Cupid to Torment Psyche

      42  Psyche Considers Her Last Letter from Cupid

      43