We Make Strange Trades stomach for knuckle, "L" for "P" Nietzsche for night-blindness for those ten dry minutes before shadows slide over his turned away face initiation rites for shrimp fried rice, organdy for origami, leather satchel for tomorrow's green cellophane we trade without knowing a Potempkin village for a lemon lollipop ring, ten years of bricked-in lightning for one glance out the bathroom window. we trade in broad daylight what emerges in darkness i trade my fear of death for fear of breath, and puzzled i end up with both- some morning in a grade school whisper we'll find out what we got