From Sleepers Awake, which will be published next year by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

        The murmur
of an um
        and an

er, etc.,
        sustains the
“apparent present”

        through “stains
in the day”—
        whatever

precedes us
        seeds how
we guess

        I guess.
Little bits
        of anguish

showing you
        how to
distinguish

        foot from
earth from
        star from

song to
        chew off
and on.