By Rodney Koeneke, from Body & Glass, which was published last month by Wave Books.

Liver, recover. 

Years pass and are salutary.

A thin scum coats

the ornamental pond

quickening spawn 

out of nothing, working 

a languid expanse. Life 

is raw and indifferent

to refinement, as 

happy using Leda 

as the swan. Before

the whole system descends

into Lent, hush, bitter 

organ, and wear your 

brief colors—dim orange,

dull pink, bruise blues.