HAPTIC POEMS
abstract landscapes
1
songs hit the voice box | & you strut
the boards | strip off your shirt | the
Ides of March is tattooed on your chest |
a folklore threatens | exposure | sirens
chuck rocks | & a continent shifts
2
one man | jumps into a philosopher’s shadow |
becomes a hemlock sniffer | hot on spirits
on toxic emanations | a poppy collector |
calls it a stumbling matter | defies
gravity’s tug | & lights up his abstract
version of an eruptive landscape
3
heads | tails pull apart | things disintegrate
fly off in different directions | the
earth’s bubble bursts | the earth’s dust
settles | you live high up in an apartment
walking on floors made of clear shattered glass
4
jagged mountains herd coloured gods
in women’s clothing | & the lawns smoke
of lovers’ lives | of boundaries stretched
to accommodate strangers circulating at
your party | you wear an orange scarf |
visualise an orange birthright | people
living by the river | temples
drifting | where clouds should be |
plants pulled free from their roots