I

Bitter echo
back again
one day
again here

Bones from soil
black, beautiful soil
at the center of questions
erased

What the soul is:
a flash in the pool
bears
lightning, hair

A dance around a statue
self-sacrificing vibrations
serving the shore
the red shore

The pyramid room fell apart
unnoticed by the avenue
still something remained:
the black wall safe

inside: slips of paper, ciphers

II

So you’ll come back
because you tore us open
to come back again

a loop shaped like 8
that was no good
since then: surges

irreversible
not like that dramatist
ciphers

loopings ahoy
pull me under
flood-wave planet

crossroads deceive
sky painted over
breath on loan

pockets full of paper
all scraps
all ciphers

III

Help the Explain-Bear!
Unfold the scraps

school him in the knots
may he read them

may he grasp them
may he respect them

may the Explain-Bear
be wrapped in light, in love

false lead
take off the bear-suit!

Ali the spider steps out
from psychiatry’s bars

glassy stare
dancer on the red shore

scribbling on walls
scratching into benches

whispering to nurses
floating through bars

from the garden of ciphers
inventor of ciphers

IV

Rest in peace