Ouroboros

~ after Remedios Varo, “Homo Rodans,” 1959; sculpture: chicken, fish, and turkey bones; and wire.

Infinite loop, eternal recursion,
alchemy of what comes back

to turn into what it was before,
as well as what it may be pre-

ordained to be— Now you have
rooms of bookcases from years

of telling yourself you should
read more novels and fewer news-

papers (actually for the crossword
puzzles); should listen to opera

especially for that moment the singer
opens her mouth and suddenly an entire

hushed auditorium becomes an echo
slipped into her lungs. Once,

in a secondhand book bin, you found
a book that had gone missing for years.

No question about it: your name
pencilled in the flyleaf, faded

notes on the margins. Creases, dog-
ears; faded receipt marking a page.