front cover—full of flavor   back cover—full of praise
table of contents—full of oysters
like
“Autumn Leaf”             
“Ode to Rugs”                         
“On Becoming Humanity”
“Blue Sonnet for a Renaissance Moon”
“The Yellow Pickle”
and the obligatory
“Gazing at Monet’s Water Lilies (The Clouds) from 1903”
                  
flipping pages……unpacking oysters

“…if sunsets weep
let my soul be drenched…”

interesting……(flip the page)

“…my eyes put on dancing shoes
and perched themselves in a
warm mailbox…”

interesting……(flip the page)

“…and Icarus sleeps torpid
in un-winged Byzantine clouds…”

i need to read more…...(flip the page)

“…my mind’s eye felt the sharpened sickle
and I realized my life was like the yellow pickle…”

what?..........(flip the page)

“perhaps in a world swimming
in color
in shades
in Monet
you can love me
but my world searches
for a canvas brushed
by hands, tears
and simple things”

…….(flip the page)

“…what is life without words
and words without friends
and with the two
what heart won’t mend?”

pretty good…….(flip the page)

(flip)..(flip)…(fliiiiiiiip)…..

notes…..

index….

and it is now

that i realize
the best pages of the book
are the blank ones

for their emptiness
for their possibility

for their grace