Imogene gathers thoughts
a fortnight from deliverance
blue spruce splintered
clarion cadence fading
rancourous bilge repeating
she brailles the bills in her pocket
punches a dimple into Franklin’s nose
picks a louse from a knot in his browline
ponders why cats
tearing cicadas in half
seem most euphoric
when the screeching curls her spine into an arch.
she works in an automobile factory.
making cars that get 22,000 miles per gallon
people drive them 20,000,000 thousand miles per hour
on the weekend
she puts 50,000,000 trillion seeds into a basket
and offers them to the homeless
at the church of the irreducible liver
at the intersection of life and death
the flies in the corners of the eyes
of the parking lot
scream their names and say
you will be immortalised in neon
by interloping impersonators
of the implacable holy ghost
carried to the top of Mt. Rainier
by 60,000 weeping altar boys
the light will burn so hot
Inupiat will perish
and Kodiak bears will never sleep.
she bobs and weaves shots there
declaratives on who, what, when, where, why and how
there.
demigods
tumble speeches in whispers there
they feared Tangiers so much, baby
they redefined fantastic
extracted sole rights and franchised
put the K in the Caymans
Balboa in Corsica.
they pirate exceptionalism
for guys who flip flapjacks
off griddles in New Jersey so high
the grease drips like honey down hot rolls
onto the blistered tongues of water buffalo
corralled with strawberry roans
cross-stitched by housewives in Wichita
when the commercials come on.
Aztecs ride Indian Heads to beat the twilight on the mesa
chain fresh meat to meth labs on the border.
twenty four thousand eight hundred sixty two truckers
drop hari-kari gears
and race for the coastline
tourists grab for their hemlines
at the outposts
where soldiers trade purple hearts for rattlesnake eggs
they crack open on the highway and scare little girls
into submission
laughter is stillborn.
XOXOXOXO dmw