Urine yellow the sky prescribed
and clouds were eyebrows on an endless face
bushy and expressive
the red trees of autumn
died in our fingers
eating apples in scarlet skin
spitting seeds and listening to the sounds of isotopes caught in the wind
and then I say:hello
And maybe:”i have heard that in the event of nuclear war we will
all be
swallowed up by nightmares gone scientific (and fire) and i want to know
if that scares
you.”
i wait for your reply
and like the Queen of Cockroaches you shrug and breathe a croo ke d si
gh.
(now i feel as small as an atom)
when i was six or maybe seven
and rain was new, death old
i loved the sound of people breathing
and along some river skipped some stones
on the end of summer’s eve, the sky lit up all tangerine
and the flat stones had left like stars in a smoky sky
i cried for the end of stones for skipping:speak you then and
(still i feel as large as an atom)
when you ask me
if it scares me (living in the cusp of doom)
i frown and shudder but remember
we are rocks on a journey of roundness.
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