“Dead? How can that BE?”
.....a woman sobs as
..........the airplane taxies to the gate; 

flames on water; the whir
.....of a hummingbird behind my eyelids;
..........these are means 

by which we live: joy, grief, delight–
.....straw mushrooms
..........rising into the visible world; 

wisps of rabbitbrush are all
.....that remain of generals’ dreams;
..........a branch of a river rejoins a river; 

flip a house and it’s shelter,
.....flip it again and cabinets
..........open, wine is poured, dogs yap, 

people joke and laugh;
.....sandhill cranes swirl
..........and descend into a cornfield; 

we ampere each other;
.....a bus stops: a child gets off,
..........starts walking on a red-clod road: 

nothing in sight
.....in all directions;
..........a rose flame under our skin, 

hummingbird whirring its wings;
.....a rose flame,
..........nothing in sight, in all directions: 

–from ‘The Unfolding Center’; Arthur Sze

[from Sze's 2014 collection, Compass Rose]