LW

needless romance

less laconic in those days

we lacked tradition to draw

on, lacked baptism

came in new

wasted spatter

somehow now the needful

thing is

less

brilliant but harder

dry branches packed deep

in shallow depressions

along the edge

purplish

grapevine smoking

fleet faces dimmer, receding

in the smoke and crackle

smaller words, older words,

dimmer

we stand apace

and overhear each other

unpack

absent dream