A Display for the Inauguration Stand

January 20, 2017

Slips sickled fresh,

a bouquet of Akrasias (

none longstem, of course,

the long of it always

being short-changed

like comma to coma)

tang of ozone. Hyacinth,

Ergot, Echinacea, Elecampane

are none so fatal flowers,

even Eclampsias,

as these parentheses

zoned for none to inhabit.

Find them growing

on blurry appetite

(often mistaken for forever),

under facts, or in the melting head

of a grieving comet.

A little commentary on this poem: I don’t usually release a poem immediately after writing it. Too risky. But these are risky times. I’ll leave “akrasias” to your googling. The sickle-shaped parentheses are just where I want them to be. (Not a typo.) Various trite phrases are recycled & regifted. That’s the long and short of it. Oh, and an empty pair of parentheses remind me of an “O” or a uterus missing an ovum, a room for a beginning that never began. The Zoning Authority never cleared it for habitation. Then, of course, I make “tang” a verb and play with “coma” and the etymology of the other kind of appetite. More like clues than commentary, I guess. These are times to watch your P’s and clues.