abasement suite
as I exit the room
I turn off the sun
the elk falls and falls
like the glass that fills
without cease
the man of letters
watches a carp
ascend a waterfall
we ought to speak soon
Carthago delenda est
upstairs the beast
with the perfect brows
opens her third eye
the fourth the fifth
a child in the form
of a crab teaches grass
how to keep nature
at bay with a blade
downstairs father
plots the fall of man
thoughts perennial
and deciduous
and a chorus of ferns
describes l'effet de pluie
l'effet de brume
traces his linear descent
on the windows a steel sun
(an aid to remembrance and distinction
that's a very yellow dress
you're wearing
I was asleep crossing that
border many years ago
my eye can trespass
the robin stirs
in the radiator grille
a sharp nail (or shrapnel
pierces the tongue
and suddenly you find
yourself in a grocherie stor
having tears
it's the whiskey that makes you frisky
it's the vodka that stirs your bodkin
it's the gin that makes you sin
it's the rum that makes you come
it's the bourbon that draws the curtain
and now
a lovely dance
in sight of the abyss
rabbit hearts that beat
like rabid hearts
endless radium
telephone toads
and Smyrna
ankles flash
skirts flourish in the heat
looks out over the fields
blesses all with fire