Sally Tries At Ruin

She heard it from an island—
Betty, many are gone. The wrecked sand, the sound

they made. Elephants tackling glass.
Nothing to do but make a plan.

List 1: lives to do. List 2: things to live.
We made a parade for the dead,

we became a garden.
List 3: start at the end.

Shock is suffered most by children.
We need bulldozers.

List 4: love everything close, use your inside
voice. It’s as if nothing. It’s less than that—

I watched a monkey jump over a man
to wrestle a dog.

List 5 has a truck but nothing
stops anything—

from inside a house, inside a room
excessive with light and controllable water.