after Agent Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks

As the wet asphalt of Agent Cooper’s

gelled back hair, Bobby’s motor oil spill of a mane.

James Hurley’s leather jacket, cracked

with road dust, buttered with the pink salt

of Laura Palmer’s perspiration. As Ronnette’s ratio

of swollen pupil to iris, mountain tunnel

barreling down the railroad track. As the melody of Laura’s

last words laid to unrest in Josie Packard’s

history, tarred as split asphalt. As the night war

birthed BOB before the desert waxed

white in nuclear explosion. As the last few

steps when the trail narrows to mystery’s cliff

edge. As an owl’s eye. As the myna bird’s pitch

feathers, spilled secrets. As dahlias bloomed

in shades of Narcissus. As Laura’s unholiest nightmare.

(Title is a line by Agent Dale Cooper in Season 1, Episode 2 of Twin Peaks.)