Panopticon
“You being ever dissolved to wan
listlessness”
Thomas Hardy
The principle of punishment
need not apply
I contest your resignation—
unanswered calls from its cold
cradle after midnight, the stream
of more unconscious signs
that tinctures thoughts.
Until something changes
this season will remain…
the valet will bring your
black Mercedes with camel-colored seats
to roam New Berlin.
Take tonight, a cocktail party
my motorcycle glistens like a black mantis
the surprise of bumping into you
accidentally, the wine shivering in your hand
in the abandoned hallway
after our disenchantment
comes despair.
Four Queens
Say you’re normal.
Single.
And there comes a point
where your individuality
suffocates, choked up like
cotton balls at the dentist.
Conserve.
Lack of desires inflames the itch
and (from experience) rubbing
thighs causes an awful
redness in the whites of the eye.
Say you’re not normal.
Single.
And suddenly arrives a point
where pain comes from
a catapult thrown down with
such force it snares a toe.
Indulge.
Wet lips and streets
one strand of hair in sheets
as if everything is letting
loose, even the sunshine.
Say you say you are normal.
Significant other.
And there’s no point
where individuality flees--
two circle the ring like
professional ice skaters.
Indulge.
Cell phones for later
a sense of sense
an untouched bowl of wax fruit like
two birds perched on a line.
Say you say you are not normal.
Significant other.
And there is a point
where individuals fail
each other without intent
like a sky void of stars.
Conserve.
Run as fast as possible
to a silent place, board
the hurricane shutters
go figure.
- Beau Boudreaux
| Beau
is a frequent contributor to RBR. He's an asst. prof at the University
of Alabama-Birmingham. |
|
