Figuration
The sadness of diplomas, of frames that hold them,
of umlauts and the imperative tense,
idioms and assonance and bitter pills,
class, and caste, and paste that dries
too quickly to unglue, of dial tones
and minor chords and kumbaya,
of the tone-deaf singer who won’t stop crooning
until the band packs up and leaves.
The silence of lawn chairs in falling snow,
half-built houses draped in tarps,
satellites that blink across night sky,
their lights a pulse that leaves no trace.
The sorrow of the understudy, of waiting
in the wings, of missing scripts and words
for wishes, candles that won’t stay lit,
of tracks in snow that weave through trees,
smells that bloodhounds chase, of rage
and sirens and wine-dark seas, ears
stuffed with cotton, of being buckled in,
holding and being held, of empty runways
and distant places no planes fly to.
* * * * *
Pandemonic
The arm in its socket turns inward,
heartbound, a transit of vowels
turned back at the shuttered gate,
phonemes that rust in gin’s soft rain.
Matter flings itself outward,
centrifugal force too fierce to contain,
disordered by benzos
bought on panicked streets.
Bellwether of bad behavior,
villain of ill-advised ardor,
speak to me of chemicals,
of criminals under the radar —
economy of boom or bust.