There Are 118 Known Elements

Of which I can name probably fifty.
Of course I love a gas
that is noble. I was alone at a party
when a woman approached
and informed me humans are closer
in relation to mushrooms than
shrimp. Mostly what I remember
from high school anatomy is that
all organs are beige and look
nothing like their colorful textbook
renderings. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit
I hope we are neon on the inside,
with an encyclopedia’s worth
of elaborate rooms for every
mood. It’s all water to vinegar
was one of the more confusing things
my mother used to say. Others include
Everyone dies and Grandma
has Alzheimer’s. I’m here now
so I’ll call attention to the many thousands
of butterflies migrating many thousands of miles
to a particular mountain in Mexico. How they do it nobody
from science knows, but we can discern
the chemical composition of gas clouds
in space, so that’s not nothing. Sometimes it’s enough
to walk through the many rooms of yourself,
dusting the crossed swords above
a mantle, lighting candles you’re sure will burn
to hard puddles, or distinguishing between antlers
and horns on the animals you’ve invented
whose names are as beautiful as skin
on a poisonous toad and whose hearts like a sea-
horse’s are no bigger than a period on this page.