for Hans Ebner*
a battled
rifle
dismantled.
a naked
woman
trained
as a white
bird.
she coaxed madness
out of you
a slow milk
a certain science.
it was there
all along
that **** war.
twenty years
tight and untuned
since you
walked the earth.
and now
I bend back
thinking of
that **** war.
souls
easily stolen
as coins
spent.
gathered
like rain drops
on the screen
between
me and the world.
black and white
refracted back
there
but a short
moment
and
then falling
silent
without
appeal
or burnt
retribution
mute
in decline
like everything
that came
before.