lamplight runs naked

To the Zuni the whole world appears animate. Not only are night and day, wind, clouds, and trees possessed of personality, but even articles of human manufacture such as houses, pots, and clothing, are alive and sentient. All matter has its inseparable spiritual essence.

Ruth Benzel, anthropologist

sometimes the party

is just too loud

i try to get some

serious work done

but the desk knows a

new joke and

my chair won’t stop

with the farting sounds—

departing leaves dressed

in bright new sweaters

throw themselves like paper planes

against the window

pestering me for

one last romp—

lamplight runs naked

everywhere flashing everything

and no one has any respect

for the cold fact

that i am the one who keeps

the bills paid around here