Phrasing and form

the landlord calls this part an opera

            sharp geometry, an X punctuating the calendar

the dusted shaft of dying light

            dust on the surface, on everything

everything suspect, already ash

            the terrible skull under such a pretty face

that diner used to be a train car

            that train an inkling of expansion

everything pretty transitive, aleatoric

            a row of candles in a sun-filled room

finality uncomfortably funny

            the landscape, a cathartic duet

acquiescent to the order of the day

            or plain unaware: stupid rock, stupid air

Copyright © 2007 Noah Eli Gordon All rights reserved
from A Fiddle Pulled from the Throat of a Sparrow
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Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission