How to Tread

pale the curtains
oh what's effaced
forgive the dead you hasty
once they've left
this awful place
no aquarium can contain we
the mourners gather
all chased in lace
every event a party
if the arsonist shows
her grinning face
then she ought pray they can restrain we




every time someone gets near
we act like we devolve into desperation
why settle for a drudging smear
we have some respect for our own station
if nobody can navigate to here
then we remain a sovereign nation
of only one perhaps... oh dear!
we're just one state called Consternation.



how clever do they think they are?
you can't outsmart a severed head
in every river in every bar
we'll follow where we're led
as sand hopscotching and winds exist
under this blank and staring sky
on mountain, in deserts, through forest mists
we won't rest until they die



She's a postcard sent and never viewed
smoking like it's her personality
a dingy room, a mildewed mood
her darkness smothers all vitality
What tenderness renders all disarmed and nude?
why, her torture and cruel brutality!



hot and bright and all we want...
expose the nerves and watch em wave
like fronds or a hand beckoning the grave
a twist of the ankle and that's the cover
say hello to old friends and lovers
dedications more dead than most
severed from our earth, our host
no more breath is left to breathe
now time to pray, get on your knees