I always wanted to be a mother 
sucking pinches of moss like 
cough drops stuffing tiny pink
cheeks with breadcrumbs    would 
that make you love me more 
or less how do we turn you into 
a cartoon pleasant as a living 
cloud      are we even getting 
close     a new clock is right twice 

a day in fact it’s right way more 
than that we can build one 
together I’ll bring the wood 
if you bring the paint       all 
numbers are imaginary numbers 
I’ve never seen one in person and 
if I did I would lose my mind        my 
voice is getting worse now jagged
as a broken glass bird        I think 

it might stay this way      there 
is a milky target behind 
my house sending coordinates 
up to a great earthbound 
comet      I am tying my boots 
to my ankles I am taking 
permanence at face value why
would anyone suffer fools       why
would anyone suffer anything

Kaveh Akbar reads “Astrology”