Poetry: Todd Melicker

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rendezvous: sincerely, (please insert your dna sequence here) so named

i’m coming aware of the whole, what
that all parts
belong
       & so does water
                  coaxed forth

that’s what i
wanted to say/tell you

              the animals

the animals

              relieve me of
              surety
                            seriousness

sure, everywhere
is where you are, who you are

everywhere
in sun & blue &     there are pairs

              around you

about you
     where you &
              are. to this be
              true

an arcflow & you flew away

              with my green

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rendezvous: & we sunk the singer

to sleep in a
row
boat dividing

the pines. to sleep a
shiver, joint in

joins. to sleep as the
nerve first grieves &
shrinks to

light. to sleep
as a highdiver

his falling
kite. to sleep as this
shovel

bites & comes near
earth. to sleep as

a satellite
holds fast to its
perch.

*

rendezvous: i kept the water, a sun without
              blinking

              of course, it
              costs me

the sun had
a name &
naming

              the word for song

& a night of thresh
ing & verbs made a
flock of hearing

              a word for nothing
              can be seen

does that make you
any less make me
plenty/ful

              weeping

belief is torn
relief to a thorn
to a bird
to a radio

              put on
              an arm &
              then
              an arm

the stars
stare
the boat
stares

              you gathered
              the living while
              i gathered the
thread

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Todd Melicker daily wanders the streets of Petaluma, Ca, gathering data as a GPS technician. Author of the chapbooks, day collects (Woodland Editions) and the immaculate autopsy (Achiote Press), he is currently managing editor of VOLT. His project rendezvous: contains, and owes a great debt to, the words and lines of Vincent van Gogh and T.M. Baird.

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