Why are you unknown to me as a man?
In your absence
Earth unzips itself in the corner
to reveal our dumb birthdays,
our composted loves.
Why do I take your transparent hand?
On television's gray fog,
you are shown missing
over a sunken grove of trees.
You are absent from the streets
for three days since
our President was slain.
An orange peeled, a seed squeezed
out of its galaxy for naught.
Did it forbid you to speak to me?
Ray Charles rocks from side to side
in the back seat so hard,
the whole car
starts to fly apart. Where can you be?