live inside out
for sou vai keng, after reading everybody has a pet

1

still clouds stir
every thinking thing
thinking wind thinking
nothing the heart of the matter
the heart of every thinking thing

pay no attention to that curtain
behind the man staring

rising clouds in the face of a day
shining in spite of itself

                           rise
and shine
                 beautiful lies
                                         eyes
have it
            motion carries

2

eyes slice through glass
tilt the head they
live in
            questions
could stop anyone

cold love must be
love at first
sight
         first
                light
        no
second
            thought

                           no
time to waste
                      no
home or
nothing
doing

3

more likely than not
to stumble in the light
when you think
you can see

more than nothing

following a cat
you think following
the moon you think following
the earth you think following
the sun you think following
darkness

you follow your breathing
the cat follows whiskers
eyes closed to see

dark touching
every thing, every
step, this way and that

4

no sign of life
in salted fish
hung out to dry

they imagine I like the sun
smile knowing they are
in life, sure as I

sure as warm sun
has every last sunflower

5

empty cage,
life has taken
the bird

free

6

nicht ich, nicht
es, nothing
between

me and the mirror I

7

one dying
leaf dry
on a tree of life
dead center
in a garden we
abandoned years ago

8

god knows every soul
has gone supernova
at least once

scattered universes of stardust

9

everybody
knows
nothing

what it is
is altogether
slow, slow suicide

10

ghost on a tram
thinks herself
still

living
in a play of spirits
lighter than air

nobody there
but ghosts forgetting
themselves on the tram

11

death laughs last
possessed by nobody
never been
had

12

thinking of a god being
born, everyone thinks sure as
life of dying

13

it cannot be
denied

14

never mind

seeing everything
from any angle

makes over and over
again worth doing

to seem to have
something

to do

15

imagine
the hell of losing
heart, no wisdom in that

16

jonah never learned
to love the bloody city
the way a god loves

like a fool
making a fool
of himself

17

stop walking

still, a butterfly

18

no one lying
there, still
no cloud clinging
here, sky

imagine

19

doing nothing
nothing done

kill time, fill
space, empty

mind, make
way, empty,

feed your life

20

the play’s
the thing
words keep

longer than you think

21

no all to open,
all here, now

come in

22

I knew nobody
should have known
an ocean could draw me

wild wind waving

23

no one calling, play
live inside out

24

every child knows
rainbows

a thousand kisses deep
in time, never

forget to laugh
with every bubble
bursting on air

25

not a word, not
a thought, a painting

talks

26

lie still, no
mirror, no self
to see, we

tell stories to live
make every tomorrow
today, yesterday tomorrow

and tomorrow and tomorrow and get on with it

27

they say the old cannot kill the young forever
but they may die trying to save them
for safe lives smaller than they
ever thought possible

28

take, drink,
pluck blackberries
from common bushes burning
with one divine presence or another

leave your shoes behind,
rejoice in every purple stain, dance
golden traces of spilled tea and circles who share it

29

climbing, think
the way a mountain
thinks, no trace of a climber

30

they wouldn’t know
a tortoise if it bit them
on the nose

be quick, don’t rush
no race, no
win, slow

31

ink on paper

makes faces
makes us

laugh

32

a paper moon
over a cardboard sky
wouldn’t be make believe if...

33

take note of nothing
that matters
forget it

34

every part of every
whole moves
leaves

nothing alone
gentle blossoms
bloom without my seeming

35

not light,
darkness

dig?

36

every cat knows
birds are easy
in dreams

birds dream cats
to make them feel
like flying

37

walking past a restaurant
on a busy street, they’ll try
to tell you the smell of mushrooms
cooking stands for some thing
other, not the thing itself

take a deep breath
and tell me this is not
your childhood here, now
present in this place, in this flesh, holy

38

stay the night
to find the truth
and it will be

what you make of it
a glass slipper to forget
for every fairy godmother

you can imagine

39

imagine silence
under what has become
of the quiet place

you remember, there

40

how could I not believe
there is a full moon
lighting happy faces?

not lost, you make memory
present. I drink from your well

we fly

Steven Schroeder, Chicago

Sou Vai Keng. everybody has a pet. Association of Stories in Macao, 2009. ISBN 978-99937-972-5-8.

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