The most elegant way to win
was to quit.

She asked will you meet
me in the tunnel? I answered,
nothing and yes.

                             °

If stones began so wide
we had no sight
of their beginnings —

The name for
an always shrinking absence.
               [Parabolic, asymptotic] I don’t know;
               [Walking at the bottom of a canyon — ]

The thing that I know
is the absence will keep shrinking.

                             °

I spent the night in a cave.
I watched a man accidentally
catch a manta ray.

None of this is metaphor.

                             °

Later a cop pulled me over
and let me go
saying no one is ever honest.

You know there is seclusion in truth-telling.
And such restraint.