What the Small Insufferable Things Become

We only know our names when we hear them

Was the strangest thing I ever heard.

What does it mean?

That we exist

Only in the mouths of others?

I tell you this because

I think of you as bright and sad.

I think of you always

As a face I seek.

I seek your familiar blueness

Like a crow distracted by a thought

Of shattered glass.

Remember when I was a crow?

Remember when I was in Iraq?

I was always distracted

By the hot wind

That carried day’s last

Dry thoughts into evening.

I was distracted by a plastic bag

Snagged on concertina wire,

Fluttering like a tattered flag.