"Mirror of a soapbubble sphere"

                       think sun on gasoline.

                       Splendor, and splendor,

                       and not a one in any way

                       distinguished from the other

                       -- nothing about them

                       of individuality. Instead

                       

                       they're all exact expressions

                       of the one soul,

                       each a perfect fulfilment

                       

                       of heaven's template,

                       mackerel essence . .

The American President's rapture, only

a weekend ago, to be on the cusp of as-

sembling a Cabinet chorus line of sat-

isfying symmetry, must have reached an

iridescent blaze of delight at this

week's climax in a duet of popinjays

of popping off to prove the poet's vi-

sion of their designing soul. How hap-

py must he be, as they gleam on ice be-

neath their captor's captive adoration -

                       each as intricate

                       in its oily fabulation

                       as the one before.

Mark Doty

Fire to Fire

  A Display 

  of Mackerel

  [fragment]

Harper Collins, 2008©

Luka Isaac

Paul Schulenberg©

Oil on canvas

Provincetown series

undated