by Frank Sherlock
One day we’re told to look at the sun
through a hole in a cereal box All there is to be seen
is the rest of? the world disappearing This
somehow shadows aliveness but almost
everyone who has ever lived is restlessly sleeping as dead
For who About what The end is near over
& over yet we insist on making dates to keep talking
Always about the last eclipse the next blood
flower buck worm strawberry ice wolf event
Then there’s a last constellation we might ever see
until there’s something else to look out for
Gone are the frightening & gorgeous conspirators
that I’m sure I will not see again
Traces of sweat & mystery streaks
some hells communion & of course
a few awkward goodbyes The mattress is
gone forever like so many of the bodies I’ve worshipped
Here we are left with impressions
& a recollection of? my side of ?the story I cry
w/ one eye all the time but the right one staid defiant
What would you read to someone you
love if you knew that they were dying
If ?it’s over again can we share more than black sites &
drownings skin turned confetti blue turned coal
& innards swept down sewers w/ brooms
We give way beyond what we know So the gun
in my mouth made me a monster for a while
Coming back shoeless calloused me
everywhere but the bottoms of feet Someone
dressed like a traitor convinced me
there are loyalties that deserve to be broken Someone
w/ death to the klan on the door
let me know I already broke free
Hear them both They’re dead & it’s tricky
since the decomposed & me are close but here
I am w/ you The friend who is you
Impossible almost lover you The us
we chose as family you & others in the fullness of? time
None of us breed but someone will give
birth behind bulletproof glass where life &
the divide begin This is a fabled event
packaged as betterment It will spawn someone
who pays to spray us
like invasive bugs in the street Cops
were children so we can look forward to
good regime/bad regime during future
questioning Thanks for the theater
but we’ve seen the play Civil discourse is broken
down in the destruction manual They can have all
the orchestras Classical music will never drown out the sins
What would you write to someone you
love if? ?you thought you might be dying
Maybe once I was someone who I’d love to see
punched in the face But I am here & not yet dead so
a constellation of the imaginary is no imaginary
constellation There is no sky w/o a dream of sky You
who are family fuck a grid & thanks to you I see
brightness independent of state-sponsored power
We talk about who threw that brick through
the window & how it’s now part of a path in a garden
Broken glass is as old as glass but the sound is
more than fresh wounds There are fresh worlds still to be heard
Oh ?& you my friend I will fight anyone who says
you’re not pretty That is just ridiculous talk Distant
impractical you I believed we could be possible w/ translation
software & hearts-for-eyes emojis No dice
but not before I entertained
dressing in a tux as your husband Look
I never thought when you said no more haircuts
until wars were over that you’d never have
short hair again My beautiful barber
brushes my face I feel funny I
moan a weird prayer for peace I guess it could happen
lol after all we deserve a new start Soon we’ll be dead & brag
about riches We were here & looked right into the sun
Last updated December 03, 2022