Simon Perchik’s most recent poem to appear here was “You button this shirt” (October 2016) 

*
You come by as if this dirt was once
the ceiling, thankful on small apartments
though these dead at the last minute

open the doors alone
and from each room the great cry
already smells from rock and avalanche

–you listen for flowers though these handfuls
could make the difference
the walls the faces and echoes.