Friday, May 9, 2025

I DARE YOU TO

say 
at what distance 
objects begin 

to flatten 
and thin 
and collapse 

into images.
And where 

(in the wings,
the apron,
the proscenium?) 

is this sort of thing 
keen 

to insist
upon happening? 

*

tell me 
you're clever 

without being 
clever,

or pathetic 
without sounding 
rude,

or human 
without coming off 

ruthlessly savage, 
marbled 

with decadent flecks 
of absurd. 

*

Everyone's heard—
a picture 

is worth a thousand words. 
But 

just you try 
writing down 

or explaining 
to them afterwards 

exactly which ones 
those were.