1996
When news of his would-be death arrived,
his body sterile in white cloth,
serene his was, his finest stupor – clinging on to a drip
of life, his tongue a strawberry his mother recounted,
forcing him into, his senses dulled,
it was 1996: else there was understanding,
there was a hand in a hand that is a latticed rose
of beauty – or unbeauty, the high prayer of it,
they sat in front of the room facing a mute wall
for days weeping or laughing. The rustling of the
daily paper broke silence not news – his dearth was sure.
no more almost was when he went sharply
in a field of grass, his shredded amusement
received by an unfolding – it was his years sideswiping
him later on, his indices of age revealing an undulant postscript
to which there were imaginary sky-portfolios and
a particular representation of a smoothened end of a smoking gun
he held now, years after, years later on
a portion of it his mouth pressed on a lover’s,
and a footnote hidden
deep within his pelvis: come back here when laden
Jun 1, 2016
Jun 1, 2016 at 3:52 AM UTC
1996
When news of his would-be death arrived,
his body sterile in white cloth,
serene his was, his finest stupor – clinging on to a drip
of life, his tongue a strawberry his mother recounted,
forcing him into, his senses dulled,
it was 1996: else there was understanding,
there was a hand in a hand that is a latticed rose
of beauty – or unbeauty, the high prayer of it,
they sat in front of the room facing a mute wall
for days weeping or laughing. The rustling of the
daily paper broke silence not news – his dearth was sure.
no more almost was when he went sharply
in a field of grass, his shredded amusement
received by an unfolding – it was his years sideswiping
him later on, his indices of age revealing an undulant postscript
to which there were imaginary sky-portfolios and
a particular representation of a smoothened end of a smoking gun
he held now, years after, years later on
a portion of it his mouth pressed on a lover’s,
and a footnote hidden
deep within his pelvis: come back here when laden
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