I’m
frightened even during the day now.
The snow-globe picture I
live in
peels back from the edges.
As
I take my afternoon walk,
the tree branches curve around
my
sky and point black knives
at my heart. This bubble I
have made
is still safe. But the outside
always wants
to become the inside.
After all, they are not so different
from us.
The
way to fight
is not to ignore
or confront directly.
It
is rather to keep them
subconsciously in a small part
of
your mind.
But what if I embraced them instead?
Would I
serve them, or they, me.
It’s
getting cool enough to think.
The scenery in the globe has
changed.
The leaves are turning red.
I feel big things
coming.
Black vine-choked water
is rising in me as
blood.
And the voice says,
“When you see a crude
drawing
of a sun, with four long rays
and four short
rays,
you will know it is time to wake.”
Don’t Look Too Close
In
the morning you’ll see
my pores you could drive
trains
through, the mold
on my shower curtain,
the pimples on my
legs.
My
first angel’s breath
of dawn tastes like shrimp
and
the garlic peels
I left in the press.
So
tonight we should mate
with the candles.
They’ll make
us into movie stars.
We’ll be things of orange
light,
flames inside pumpkins,
things of joy,
of no
substance.
New Roman Games
I
walk like a coward
into the arena –
shoulders hunched,
head bent –
but it is only a ploy.
I will survive
this.
We
wait our turn
behind a cracked
and thorny wooden door.
I
peer through
to see winged lions
sprouting fire
from
their flanks.
They are gorging
on contestants.
The crowd
howls
its approval
in a unified voice.
The
door creaks open,
and at once,
they are upon me.
My sword
slashes
the creature’s mouth.
I slip behind my
friend,
and he is taken.
I use a young woman
as a
shield
against another.
A third leaps at me,
but my
sword
has pierced its heart.
The crowd goes silent
before
rising as one.
My
gaze finds the replay
screen in the bleachers.
I am the only
contestant left.
The emperor’s thumb
points to the
sky.
I am now a millionaire:
women, my own show,
a
brand new car!