Unmasked

-

UNMASKED


Alright I'll drop the bit. I'm far

more simple than I would like 


to admit. I slurp sweet cereal at night. 

In the morning I try on more than one 


life before I step into my own. 

When I get there I want to go 


home. I used to shuffle my feet,

but I caught a callus on the clumsy seams 


with which they’ve stitched

the place; after that it's been a race


to grow out my fingernails for a better grip  

on the flap of skin beneath the chin


or somewhere at back of my neck. 

(The hard part would be clearing 


the nose. Past that, it would snap off 

the scalp like a swimmer’s cap.)


Face it, even pulling off my face

is a simple hope: We all just want


the chance, before we die, to look

the unadorned, unblinking, eye to eye. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Quorum Present?

-
Do We Have a  Quorum?  Well we’re present—this hangnail of the living  contingent—and then  there’s the unaccounted for who came before quite likely peering in—for all  we know—through the wood-frame windows, eager to wipe a dust-hole  with their thumbs and watch the goings-on to see if we arrive at a kind  of consensus. So to answer your question,  yes. And speaking of questions, theirs are ours and we carry the weight of them in the damp manila folders of our lives, eager to take the stand: On behalf of all of us, then, Why does it cost so much? Are we,  on this end of the bench, being  heard? And then, in a word,  what are we going to do about it? 
Read more

The Bends

-
 THE BENDS           At a certain depth the voices all thrum at the same, garbled pitch.  Both wisdom and the waiting swarm of bees call you up for air,  both wisdom and the Anglerfish draw you deeper. Do you paddle faster  from Leviathan or close your eyes and wait?  Once inside, do you stab the tender heart or caress it? There’s leagues on leagues but we’re in  out of ours and the tanks are low. You die if you come up too quick, you die  if you don’t surface soon, and at this sounding we won’t be dragged out by the light  of the moon. As to good news, t he returned ship sloshes vacant  at port while the wreck is found  at rest on solid ground, home now  to an ecosystem riddled with life.
Read more

Refurbished

-
Refurbished The ladybug died  wedged in wicker,  is spray-painted green.  Disassemble yourself.  Free trampoline.  Not one to jump to conclusions, but if even pipe-smoke throws a shadow in moonlight, nothing is ever full- nothing, right?  The trees agree to lower the veil and reveal the bare strip of road which runs behind the house.  The white roar of leaving  never leaves, and the porch  light flickers but never goes out.  In a world of partially resurrected things, the quick and the dead dance a rumba then collapse in a tangled heap to make  furious love till morning shakes the can and picks a fade-resistant shade of light.
Read more