is to shave the essence of you

into wooden curls and fill crystal bowls with them

I know you think I’m crazy when I tell you

that it breaks out with Blue Bayou every time

I touch your cheekbones or the backs of your splendid hands

One spring I saw it drip from the oars you were holding

as we slid over the Concord River

My fingertip zigzags over the world map of it

from the ferryboat we took to cross the Bosporus

to the April day when hailstones filled the courtyard of Versailles

to the log cabin we rented on a paper trail in Narragansett

to the fish joint in Key Largo with the gibbering parrot

When I hear a bit of it fall on the tile floor

I bend and find it, nestle it in my palm

If you show me where you keep the Phillip’s screwdrivers

I will use the right one to tighten it in place

It is the solution for anything that annoys me –

burned scones, computer glitches, frozen pipes

There when coffee grounds are too difficult to explain

There between the ribs of a Dylan song that sizzles on the grill

when you turn it over with the long-handled spatula