Melancholy

In church yesterday
The discussion was
Whether or not
Chipmunks
Were on Noah’s ark
Or were they created
After the Flood?

Reflecting on this
Later that afternoon:
Falling in and out of polyphasic sleep
A dream of Munch’s painting
Magnetic rain clinging to the trees
A rainbow appears
Chipmunks run out on the lawn
Somewhere a person screams
Holding their ears
Polychrome windows leaking colors
Onto the floor
Where the cat licks them up
The rainbow disappearing
Behind the door
You fall into melancholia
After reading a rhyming pattern
Into the afternoon

“Why don’t you put on your smoking jacket?
Leather slippers
Light up a pipe
Of Old Philosopher
While you translate the Qumran scrolls?
Or have the dog bring in the paper?”

There is green mold on the outside of the house
A piece of plaster
Falls on the premier guitar with the broken nut
Water begins pouring in
Through all the doors and windows
Après le Deluge
The dog comes in and shakes the water off
Laying a chipmunk at your feet.