Song for Ruby

O my chalupa
my chickpea my last
of the season gentian
I see you reach
for a yellow rattle
and I’m immortal
Smell your scalp
and we’ll never collide
with an asteroid
be sucked up by some
gargantuan black hole
O my salted edamame
my corn puff my drizzled
over pancakes maple syrup

you’re the pops on an old LP
the spider in the arborvitae
I never knew a wrist
could be this soft
O my Bessie Smith
old and scratchy
on the Close and Play
Supremes I don’t deserve
this luminosity these
luscious fists this luck