Onstage, a contestant turns to the judge, predicts:
I'm gonna break your heart; then sings.

A mother wrestles the cap off a medicine bottle
while her child swallows a lake.

By the time she sees the mop of hair, it's too late.
She refills the tub with screams.

Our date ends: You kiss my cheek and the lake
with the drowned babe freezes.

I blush—a cardinal in snow. I can't sing my way
out of this, can’t help but float.