One Lokayata, Nastika

Expect a surprise when no one expects one,

Wrote one. (For instance, finding atheists among

Brahmins and Buddhists before the first

Commonly called "common" century.)

     There's the window full of twilit evening

And thick with birch leaves.

While we still have coals, I'm going

To put one more split on the stove.

There's Annie Proulx, Bird Cloud, open-faced

On the 358 Exchange newsletter

On the sill. There's the butter tub, 

The nature journal, the boxed board game, 

And the tracing paper, full of scribbles,

On the borrowed coffee table. There's

The smoldering coal in the grate.

"Can I get a tissue?" The phrase

"At least?" is implicit in the tone 

Of the phrase. So, there are some gods 

No gods erase. Our demons are the phones 

That ring when we're not answering, not

The phones that glow when we want, we want...