Once upon a time, arriving at the place we’ll never come to
The order comes firing across synaptic relays
Bouquet of rhododendron trees as tall as need, just as tall as need
Towering over footlights and tweezer arrays, knife switches, dials
“Something to take away the whisky thirst? Perhaps the red pill
Perhaps the blue, or maybe you’d like, I know you’d enjoy
This bottle labelled ‘Drink Me’”
No rabbit foot fable this, the cat is yowling at the dog
Snoring in the Salon de Victrola
Convex one-way mirror window into that other
Hotel room of the soul.
Leaving before we’ve gotten there
Toyota Corolla on the fritz
Fairy gold coffers carried into
Presidential suites, turning to mist
With the dawn, John Kennedy’s rocking chair
Silent empty rocking in the wind.
Only the army men remain,
Plastic in their devotion
Resin hand-grenade eternally hurled
Cold Pleistocene plasticine flame thrower
The radio-man’s antenna has been chewed away.
Only the stones remain, only the songs
Only the stars remain, only those who
Have lost all there is to lose
Children forgotten on the school steps
Tableau of wrecked cars, broken bones
And the piratical tow truck driver
With his long hair black as sin
And his gold tooth
Assures me that everything will be alright
As he fingers the bone handle of his
Bowie knife.
Author: Duncan MacNae
Exiled Gael, scion of the Dust Bowl, dweller within Divine Grace, admirer of mountains, I have made my peace with trout and the starlings. Looking for a river and healing trees.
duncanmacduncan5@gmail.com
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