---
title: Dead man
id: deadman
genre: verse

project:
    title: Elegies for alternate selves
    class: elegies
    order: 9
    prev:
    - title: The boar
      link: boar
    next:
    - title: The angel to Abraham
      link: angeltoabraham
...

A dead man finds his way into our [hearts][] \
simply by opening the door and walking in.  \
He pours himself a drink, speaks aimlessly \
about hunting or some bats he saw \
on the way over, wheeling around each other.  \
Look how [they spin][], he says, it's like the \
ripples atoms make as they hurl past each other \
in the space between their bodies.  \
We mention the eels at the aquarium, how \
their bodies [knot while mating][].  The dead man \
was a boyscout once, and tied a lot of knots.  \
His favorite was the one with the rabbit \
and the hole, and the rabbit going in and out \
and around the tree.  The dead man liked it \
because he liked to pretend that the rabbit \
was running from a fox, and the rabbit \
always ended up safe, back in his hole.

[hearts]: words-meaning.html
[they spin]: moongone.html
[knot while mating]: spittle.html