what is good

I will not eat dinner with Sam

he eats bread I baked

with cane sugar I picked

and yeast I carved out

the sides of mountains

that rain.

I chop wood

for the pleasure

and talk to window washers

not to patronize

but to inquire

about their history

as window washers

and men.

they yearn to live

as I do,

freely,

and all they are doing

is washing windows

for widows

who never bake them

bread

but instead

smudge the windows

again

with nosy noses

that they use

to peek into the

hen

house.

friend of friends

I have not seen you

since you

have begun hiding

in

forests

where tears sway low—

snakes on branches.

you are bitten

I am bitten

you are responsive

and suck out venom

spit it into

piles that grow into

words

sentences

dictionaries

novels

epic tales

an odyssey

of western adventure

all from the poison

that we insisted would be

good for our soul

but what is good for the

soul except

baked bread

and poems?