more than trees
            miss rain
than feet
            miss socks
than shadows
            miss light
than pucks
            miss nets
than tires
            miss roads
than guns
            misfire
than scalps
            miss roots
than gloves
            miss hands
than gums
            miss teeth
than time’s
            mismanaged
than love’s
            misplaced

more than mouths
            miss tongues
than webs
            miss spiders
than statues
            misshapen
than bricks
            miss vines
than stoics
            miss nothing
than puzzles
            miss pieces
than brains
            miss bodies
than Murphy’s
            misfortune
than addicts
            miss asking
than cards
            miss tables
than spoons
            miss soup
[or days when they could still
be bent by the mind; days when folks
still believed in it]

more than irons
            miss ore
than cliffs
            miss touching
than stars
            miss youth
than idols
            miss meaning
than bones
            miss moving
than horns
            miss halos
than scalpels
            miss muscles (and ligaments)
than caves
            miss echoes
than Sundays
            miss mail

—hold, one second, please, let me catch my breath—

more than hammers
            miss nails
than children
            miscount
than clocks
            miss moments

more than ana-
            mis-mosity
than trains
            miss tracks
than reporters
            miss everything
than graves
            miss space
than facts
            miss fiction
than tubs
            miss baths (and bathing)

more than most folks
            miss fine print
than colors
            miss canvas
than puppets
            miss strings
than sounds
            miss ears
than markers
            mis-mark

more than maroons
            miss burgundies
than vices
            miss versas
than Miss Liz’s
            missed miss
than chimneys
            miss smoking
than notches
            miss belts
than wicks
            miss wax
than functions
            miss forms
than eras
            miss ’zonas
than pris’ners
            miss homes (or make new ones)
than Siskels
            miss Eberts
than Sonnys
            miss Chers
than Curlys
            miss Larrys
and Larrys
            miss Moes

more than Mrs. Jackson
            Mrs. Robinson
than the optimist’s
            misanthropy
than Mr. Lynch’s
            Missoula,
Montana then
            Mississippi
more than “pi”s
            miss cakes
more than my
            mistakes
more than i
            can take
more than earths
            miss ’quakes
more than four “i”s
            can see
more than your eyes
            can see
more than u miss q
more than you miss you
more than you miss me
more than Mississipping
more than Mississippi
more than q miss u
more than i miss you
more than i miss me
more than Mississippi

(miss-us-sitting)
(miss-us-listening)
(Mississippi)
(Miss Issippi)
(miss-us-glistening)
(miss-us-fishing)
(Mississippi)
(sis-is-whistling)
(disc-is-spinning)
(disgust-ing-ly)
(gets-us-wishing)
(missed-us-in-me)
(Mississippi)
(Mississippi)
(Mississippi)
(mississippi)
(this-is-fitting)

something’s missing
missing missing

            —issippi