Intrepid Pilot
--L. S. Klatt 

Dear Stranger, if a lark chased by a birdshot
seeks asylum where things are hidden, go
to it with an armload of chameleons &
armadillos. And if, in the flooded glades
of the Orinoco, you discover a woman
bathing a panther with lilac oils, go to her.
And if you eavesdrop on certain light-
bearing insects, take a bicycle that will wheel
you into dark space. What you must not
blot out, but rather imagine, is that your cloak
is a lifeboat. Into midnight then fall backward
because, weightless there, you phosphoresce
in a slipstream of transit.

[from Sunshine Wound; Parlor Press (2014)]