Those boys used to ask me / to guess if facts were real. / A tarantula hibernates for winter/ and sheds its dark fur. / A chameleon / sleeping in its own tongue. / That one day the seas / will rise like a duvet and tuck Miami in for the night / in one fresh gulp. / And I would hope to reach / and part them like gossamer, / like netting, like the clouds / of foam surrounding my bed / in the monsoon. / Stand under a moon / heavy as a smoker’s fingernail. / Say, living / or not living, / real or not real. / Tell me in fantasy / to tell me the truth. / Am I the angel of death. / Do I not see it / every place I go. / The woman with a moondog / around her irises. / The man with his eye hollowed / cleanly from the socket. / A vulture diving a bare streak / to rest at my feet. / A black squash we found together / shaped exactly like a swan.