Leave to Set

To avoid being asked this question –Anne Carson

So many sounds fall out of me
bottlecaps on linoleum
alphabet scatters
Feet silent on the floor, in the pause
Words as curtains over my lovely view
*
Nothing so eloquent as, say, a shy tear
skating down the cheek
Perhaps some stagnant water
in a glass beside the bed
In other words not the lingerie
but its magazine image,
laid neatly beside old underwear
lounging unselfconscious on a bathtub ledge
*
What if on a steep dirt path
interrupted by planks to prevent erosion
I looked at the contrast of green cliffs
and ocean
and thought only of words
What if later I watched dimmed light
strike a wine glass
and still thought of words
*
The image of departure
and its sound, smug couple
crisp line between cover and page