The place is extent : set on the table; / exact : : raw spool of yarn and a glass of red wine. / A candle burns in the glass burns / an ellipse above the shadow of your head on the wall. / Acclimate, in eye-pulse curette the light. / You toss the spool and the yarn loops / over the tarnished arm, / the lamp hangs by its neck from the ceiling.

(On stiff straw paper, / I write a note to God, I’ll hide in my habit, / “Please, keep Mama, Papa, Brother close ...”) /  Before sun melts periwinkle to hot-red dawn, / they’re grunting, “Sign it! Renounce this country!”

They stain themselves with rosaries, / Rucas and Monte Carlos, skeletons / In fedoras and furs.  The whole room / Reeks of California's finest, at least / Ten blunts spinning hand to hand. / And Santa Maria is there too—praying, / Head bowed, on the shoulder blade / Of an overweight drop-out, brawler / Who calls himself Tiny.