*(summoning lips
   of acrylic to be
   and yet piquing the treacly
   brow of some gawking sable
   clung at the hem of a canopy,
   gold and Hookers green,
   and nary a canvas sea
   to incense to the muslin
   taupes and greiges tickling
   little Manhattan, twisting
   wickedly west of Topeka,
   Fredonia, Ore, and Odessa)

aswim in the softly acicular sea
of asemic dapple and dandling
oak leaves,
                      bricks and plinths
                of marl and sediment
   honed
                  to the murmurous umber of
sea foam;
                                      dallying threads
of fretless shades like
oenomel steel strummed soft
                                 as a silken
fan bids sodden wool worked thick
                       as a sunken meringue
            to the brisk and gingery clip
of a sea breeze—                               thi