i remember comets all night long

I remember a final I had a few years ago in one of my poetry classes. All we had to do was memorize a poem and recite it in front of the class. Any poem, any length. I chose a poem by Richard Brautigan (of course) and stayed up all night with a friend memorizing it and, like, talkin' 'bout life. It was a fun night (what I can remember of it), but the sleeplessness caused me to freeze in front of the class, even though I knew the poem by heart and by bone and was not nervous. My brain was snoozin'. I was so embarrassed, but I eventually snapped out of it and finished reciting the poem flawlessly... or so I like to think. Anyway, here is the poem. Read it if you can make sense of shapes and can form those shapes into sounds and words and ultimately meaning.

"Comets"

There are comets
that flash through
our mouths wearing
the grace
of oceans and galaxies.

God knows,
we try to do the best
we can.

There are comets
connected to chemicals
that telescope
down our tongues
to burn out against
the air.

I know
we do.

There are comets
that laugh at us
from behind our teeth
wearing the clothes
of fish and birds.

We try.