Held for Questioning Over the Abyss

A Strange Species of Sunset

 

they shoot down                                                           a Penrose staircase from which

the jackdaw’s                                                                feathers issue

affidavits                                                                         negotiated by the slaughterman                   

performing an oscillating death rite                   and his shambling fowl         

trumpeting with gnomic caws                             who are urged           

to expect a long night                                             to stay indoors


the old bird hankers                                                      

for the executive branch                                           one                             

with a claw in influence                                            born of animal negotiation

and another in woe, watching lives                      bought up like serfs

dry out, and arriving                                                   bei Nacht und Nebel

at negative capability                            


the lord                                                        

of the manna,                                                

a slowcoach of grey                                      matter

on the gloaming                                            drafting

a last statement                                             in a font

of wan beige                                                    that is illegible

in a notebook                                                 as our bodies are

packed up


our hemispheres are half                           of a roulette

spinning                                                            our                                         

clay                                                                     opinion           

and they burn                                                  remains

with a vengeance                                          symptomatic

of a Nebbiolo

left to decry its abandonment

for a list of days

in the desert

 

 

The Relocation of the Bureau

 

they knocked down the back doors

and read me their rehearsed rights

swathed in rosettes


I thought                                            the black bag was a nice touch,

I recognised                                     a trusting nod to the impregnable

mountains                                        on the day Atlas

of Phthiosis                                      quit the chiropractors

but now I stand                              over those poor souls

corrected                                          in the detention centre

      labouring under a mistaken

      impressionist, who affirmed

      a maggoty authority

      at the tribunal that was held

      under liturgical colours

      until the seamstress cried

      foul play of the post

  the tide brought me twice a day       with a fa, la, la, la, la

      
      I am pained like a plaintive plaintiff

      wriggling from the accusatory

      gaze of the defendant

      but then the miserable

      have no other medicine

      but hope

                                                           I do my best behind bars

      passion is a prisoner

      that makes screws f

                                             all out.

 

 

 

The Witness in the Drapes

 

I see slack jaws                        of the adjudicatory panel          who merrily as bears 

gawp at                                       the noble testimonies                 composed therein

whoever was overcome         stayed                                                 this love song

with a yearning                          complimentary                               of minor chords

                       

I happen to know                       by my patriot bones                    how it comes to be    

that humanity is                         wrapped hastily                            in the twinkling of an eye      

utterly lost                                    but defiantly                                   so                               

face down like an officer        in a tourniquet                               shameful to be alive           

                                     
the attorneys                               are maenads                                 cavorting in the nasturtiums

lost to                                             the newsreaders                          flashing on the television

worthy                                            of                                                       nobody in particular

opponents                                   Dionysus                                          approved of

           

the too-apt storm

reminds itself

on the magistrate’s windows


the jailbird twitches

to the tune of an exaggerated fee

and all feign sobriety

when a figure with joyous timing

puts twit and twoo together

and gets forcefully to work on the ribs


and all I can discern from my handwriting

is the merciless knowledge

that the hitherto

and the afterward

will be stripped from the record