The queen grows fat beneath my house br while drones infest the walls br reconnaissance to feed her glut, br wood ripped from studs and joists. br I'll pay to drill the slab and ruin br her pestilential nest. How to find br the song in this day's summons? br I've been accused of darkness br by my inner light. My brother sits br in the chemo chair another long day br of toxic infusion, the house of his body— br bones, brain and balls gone skeltering. br I sit in my parked car listening br to Robert Plant recall how the English br envied the Americans for getting br the blues, getting all of it, into song. br I remember the dream where br brother and sister, adult and equal, br lean and white as lilies, as bare, br dove into a mountain lake, black water, br high elevation, fir trees growing br in flood water that had joined br two lakes into one. Do you ever dream br of animals, I ask him, hospice bed br looking out on a plywood squirrel br perched on cement block wall. br Frequently. A lilt of surprising joy. What kind? br Mostly the jungle animals. Then: I'm going br to do my exercises now. What exercises? br I like pacing, he said, immobilized br upon his death nest of nine pillows. br Then he closed his eyes to become the inward one br whose only work was to wear a pathway br back and forth within his enclosure.