Fact

By Rae Armantrout
Operation Phantom Fury.

*       *       *

The full force   
of the will to live   
is fixed   
on the next   
occasion:

someone   
coming with a tray,

someone   
calling a number.

*       *       *

Each material   
fact   
is a pose,

an answer   
waiting to be chosen.

"Just so," it says.

"Ask again!"

Source: Poetry (September 2007)