magic goatskin
a mouth maneuver
morbidly queues in carnival outré
pockets to the south
pouts like a weary church step
barbs the lower vermillion
meta hangdog like
perhaps a deep sea fish
barely visible by lanterns
sends a joyless speech bubble to its lips
uses filigreed edges
uses a coal mine confession
writhes under a microscope an anthrax question
another mouth
receives the sabotage
makes a strangled cloth of its face & responds with a readymade
bumper sticker suggests
an infidel’s slack prayer
the wake of its yawn is an air raid siren
sure
the idea is woodwormed
it tells the sorrier truth anyway
over time
it builds a crumbling wall against human cannonballs
against falling platitudes
take a cue from nature it says
shut down
drop a leaf
drop a grieving letter
stares at the ground as if burying a loved one
i’m valise the mouth says
guts unpacked in front of him
or
maybe he’s just curious
but no
I don’t want to talk about drunk war leaders
snipers a smile into the moving crowd
a glass vial with a moth inside
quasi
it does what it’s always been able to do
lands a navigator’s kiss on ursa minor
manifesto sparkilo fuming
the boy who befriended light
where is he
who sheltered in a field from boarding school scourge
the trees he said
their shadows became his companions
laugh buries fatigue
bells the opiate mind
joins the moth
joins the porch light that was never the moon
mouth tells the head
take a deep breath
hold it like you’re swimming towards an answer
exhales a whistling sheoak
toys the rough hem of a broken nail
the pretence of something important
do you see it
teflon like
a twenty first century choking hazard
stares back anyway
unable to hold a memory
©️ david sichler