"this is your
captain" Frank says from the cockpit

"all passengers wishing to bail out
any time during our flight

it
is
too
late

I have shredded the parachutes to confetti
in celebration of our arrival"

milk pours from the sky

the countryside is comfortable
and burping

no one wants umbrellas

crocodiles snore on the white surface of the lake

Frank naps on the lawn
smiling

with tomorrow's sun
gutters will
curdle and
sour

"this daisy in my
mouth" Frank says
"is a snorkel
breathing
another
dimension"

Frank pedals
his bike
to work

it's so marvelous
a ride
he goes home
to start over

a fortnight of this
and he still doesn't
know he's
fired

for love

Frank spoke softly
into envelopes
instead of
writing
letters

he pulled the
jukebox plug
before the song
said it for him

Frank puts 4, 5, 6
sticks of
dynamite
in his
mouth

he lights a match

imagines the
gold it'll knock
out of his head

though Frank
has never been
here before

she serves
him soup in
a wooden bowl
with bite
marks his
teeth
exactly
fit

at night
the fern
the chive
the philodendron
kiss Frank's brow
in green conspiracy

CAConrad has poems in American Writing, Exquisite Corpse, Chiron Review, and other journals. His latest chapbook is a collaborative work with poet Frank Sherlock titled (end-begin w/chants) published by Mooncalf Press. He edits Banjo: Poets Talking, and co-edits Frequency Magazine: An Annual Audio Journal with Magdalena Zurawski. His book advancedELVIScourse is forthcoming from Buck Downs Books, and his book Frank is forthcoming from The Jargon Society. CAConrad's previous publications in Strange Horizons can be found in our Archive.