Maps

Space and time.

I.

two sounds, train and owl, signal

through dark’s slow moving enclosure

framing the land, untangling its shape

with opposing agencies and a clarity

other media are incapable of

II.

these are the pastures of civilization

these few acres, these few necessities

a map unfurled in the cranial cave

lit by the flame of some ancient genius

as time flickers in and out

III.

we cross the transept, into the anthropocene

dumbly staring down the void, stumbling

over ourselves, our words, our language

a pile of signs, painted steel and reflective tape

glowing in the sun with a photographic dullness

IV.

particles of dust hang in the light that moves above the shadow as it solemnly follows us along. smaller shadows fill and define our bare foot prints behind us. dust hangs gently in the light above, slowly settling back into the undefinable matrix. eventually we have gone far enough away from all the places we don’t want to be and stop beneath a tree.

V.

I stand in the doorway

of your small room, shivering

faced with stricter definitions

it becomes harder to stay here

than when I was a cloud

and flawed like a piano

SM