As Is

If you surveyed sufficient
Numbers of random people
As to which they found weirder—

That this world is as it is
Or that there are many worlds—
How much do you want to bet

The majority would say
It would be weirder to know
That this is the only world?

The point of fantasy worlds,
Then, is to feel more at home,
To dream worlds that make more sense,

Which goes for mythology
And folktales and wonder tales.
Why is this too weird to bear?

Fusogenia

Life slips sideways.
Codes for one path
Cross through others,
Blaze desire lines

Into the quads.
Viral packets
Of species traits
Squeeze through borders.

There are proteins
For insertions
Coded by genes
That insert them,

Horizontal
As any idea—
Some idea how
Ideas started.

Forget a Moment

A string of words—
Imagine them
On bamboo strips

Or on a slip
Of torn paper
Or a napkin—

Characters, jots—
Can they conjure
Anything rare?

The paradox
Is not that word
But forgetting

Signifying
For the warm glow
Of what ails you.