there’s no such thing as clouds she said
I asked her to explain
she said
the clouds are just a metaphor
if you touch them
they aren’t there
dissolved by our attention
like particles avoiding a dark plate
suspended in ten thousand tons of water
depending on which technician lifts the lid
huge somethings made of nothing
the weight of mountains
mist fading from your grasp
before you even close your hand
a metaphor, she said
for water’s longing for the sea
(2022)
