Rae Armantrout

There are worldwide, catastrophic storms
When earth’s network
Of weather-control satellites
Is sabotaged by unknown enemies.

This eucalyptus,
with its elliptical leaves

dangling, light and dry
as an abandoned chrysalis,

with its modest bunches
of pale pink flowers

and languid pose,
is my unattainable ideal.

I want to get
to the managed care

evening,
where the future appears

to stream directly
into the past . . .

Take this cup away from me
with its hints

of ammonia and dill,
oak or corrosion.

Who knows, really?