41. grotty
we saw Plato or somebody in there yes
chagrined that the phenomenon disappoints:
through a translucent fault line
inexorable chimeras were supposed
(amid the uneasiness of other presaged bagatelles)
to usher some salubrious tides
tenuous glowing signifiers
that should’ve exalted our enviable sensorium
should’ve focused our mind from the root
of earlier predictions to suggestions of imaginary time
lit with layers upon layers of aesthetic ghoulish nonsense
true that some of the stranded corpuscles
testifying to the shrill omission
seemed here and there to limn untimely disharmonies
a paltry crystallization of fruitful eccentricities
a few coils of lavish blithe saucy smoke and so on
but it must have been all in our heads
the cave meanwhile was turning into some makeshift ocean
the worst worn spots unwitting spigots
from where the clumsy wheel of unflattered fate
vomited the awful disarray of eviscerations
scum from suddenly swollen athletes
that exploding ceased to circle
around the depraved circumstantial slaughterhouses
grown instantaneously like poisonous toadstools
and that now were disgorging
with priapic skill and mock gentleness
a crapload of luminescent surely corrosive brine
plus the sound they made copied
that of a scabrous enough moving of the feces
or the macabre scattering of other lachrymose stuff
we saw then not the brittle windfall of insolent sundogs
and triumphant forces accelerated
in a sick shortcut to the pristine origins
but a wreckage of crippled imps
shaky inklings at the bottom
through the clouded flesh of the surface
an irretrievably zoo of buffoonish forms
a crude amusement of indignities nestling pell-mell
in a fog of antipathy
the firewood too clammy
even the wooing crickets and bats rendered lethargic
but not the mouths of the filthy scions
the regimented chiliarchs
oddly following still their dull pecking order
compelled now to exude rueful unsuccessful avowals
of profligate goings-on and a rotten insanity of murders
cataloged in a momentous staccato of squeals:
“we were yikes evildoers
fearmongers unscrupulous swindlers cutthroats
insidious scathing eye-gouging assholes
the plights of fringe martyrs left us
neither surly nor agitated nor weak-kneed
not even numb just awash in opulent blood
in egregious remorse we confess
insatiable qualms and deathbed renewals
the wellborn bonuses sinecures
made us nutty heroes
touchstones to the handsome counterpoints
and confidently hygienic charitable lavatory surgical
as we were the lightning-rods of all the malignity
ripened our fatherlands thanks to those shabby thrills
we provided for the multitudes
we were conspicuously deluged with foolhardy approval
by all and sundry and regardless
braving the horrid bloodletting we wisecracked
with glee and tenacity
breathe brethren breathe
while we broke a few spines”
the faster shimmer of that last loss
the panicky epistolary crisscrossed glimmerings meaning zilch
the juxtaposed stilted constipated sarcasm of the resurrectionists
the risen murkiness turned into a fervent summary
in the last hundred broken manageable initials
uncials and all
of the disjointed mechanics of what we were never really weaned of
the stampeding fragments
the inching waves
the wounded bristles
the thunder receding as we receded
tactfully tiptoed to the left of the stage
no convictions required
forget about all that stomach-pumping
escape trumps truth
our climactic recession all in all a wonder
of posthumous digression.
