~ After Remedios Varo, “Exploration of the Sources of the Orinoco River,” 1959



Don’t we all wish to return,

to discover how it is that infinity
reaches across the world in a shimmer

of overlapping circles, unfazed by obstacle?
It simply goes around each tree in the wood,

spreads a filmy veil over every house, falling-
down shed, office building, and church; the sign

above the 24-hour drugstore and pool hall; 
the alley where stray cats congregate,

giving rise to rumors about the most delicious 
steamed meat buns in the noodle shop next door.

In the story about a fish that grants a boon, 
the fisherman’s wife knows that the sweetest

meanings are always closest to the bone. 
She tells him to go back and ask a deeper

question, which sadly he interprets as merely 
a demand for more. Here she is, setting out to do

the hard work herself then— peeling back the body’s 
outer cover, waterproofing the heart, re-rigging

the wings. So much ceremony, in order to arrive 
at the spot where the water gushes without

measure, gives before one even thinks to ask.