(her words play softly up and down
dewy corridors of billboards)

then with your tongue remove the tape
and press your lips to mine

Her Lips Are Copper Wire (excerpt) — Jean Toomer

Love’s rage, broken page
Electric lights and glass bone nights
Electric lines run through your minds
Distractions with radio contraptions
Pipe ashes, night glasses
Tick tock, hear the wind lick the window
Ignited, you’re invited
Grow wings sprouting from the backbone

Dream Machine (Lyrics Excerpt) – Sean Hayes

her tongue leaps from her mouth like a tombstone
three times
Smooth as ash
her favorite word is ‘apothecary’

Sound Has Ears (excerpt) – manuel arturo abreu

He’s wearing the green leisure suit
you threw out with the garbage,
and the Christmas tie you hated,
and the ventilated wingtip shoes
you found in your father’s closet
and wore as a joke. 

In the Basement of the Goodwill Store (excerpt) – Ted Kooser