from “Elsewhere”

That which I put into my pie glows like a glowing thing

inside my pie, a sparkler inside a bushel of apples

inside my pie, an uncontained fire contained in a tin

of canned pumpkin and sweet condensed milk

inside my pie. I like to put my head underneath

the water and hear it running,

the sound of drowning, the bulb glowing,

the ribbon of the light switch swinging, the swine.

Is it time? The timer seems always to think it’s time.

The children make merry with their board games.

The married ignite their paper hats.