Dark Days in the Night

subfusc \sub-FUHSK\, adjective:
Dark or dull in color; drab, dusky.

[Origin: 1755–65; <>subfuscus]

Subordinate ordnance ordains
Our upturned faces singly in the night;
Obligations spit and crackle
Peeling the subfuscous nothing above us
into ribbons of razor-light;
Washing the pride from our countenance
in sublime strips;
Leaving our hearts beating sluggishly
Underground.

The Spearminter

vehement \VEE-uh-muhnt\, adjective:
1. Zealous; ardent; impassioned.
2. Characterized by rancor or anger.
3. Marked by great energy or exertion.

[Origin: 1475–85; <>vehement-, s. of veheméns, véméns violent, forceful (of uncert. derivation)]

Vehementhe behemoth
Making 'I's at my wallet;
Christening the spot with
Its putridium erectile drip:
"My Time! My Time!"
Again and again.

But this is mine: this
Thistle-lime and creeping doom.
This is yours and mined time;

Ours, if you kennit, or
'ours;
Whichever is less.

But this time could be different!
This Time
We could be different!

We could escape these paper folds!

Minty Magic Land is our
Nightmare pancreas;
A constant demand
Of soul
And heart-juice;

An acid wash of highest caliber
rinsing your brains wholly holy
and 'holy'.

Nothing: ad Infinitum

ersatz \AIR-sahts; UR-sats\, adjective:
Being a substitute or imitation, usually an inferior one.

[Origin: 1870–75; <>Ersatz a substitute (deriv. of ersetzen to replace)]

Ersatz Earth in the Tube
In the Bill
In the whole damn schemata

Replacement parts for
Replacement parts for
Replacement parts...

And to what end?
A frightful image!
A jingle janglin' jungle of justifications spread
Like a taught and torpid
Diamond spider web!

But we are the flies, oh yes
We are the flies in the palms of the lords
Semiotic sweet and plump of pocket
Can't-be-bothered busy with shit on our lips

We have a billion hands yet
We build naught but bars
We have a billion eyes yet

We can not see:

The Repo Man cometh
And the dreaded Tax Man
And the pale horse rider
And they all jibber the same nonsense:

"You owe us"

Hiding Your Eyes From Your Eyelids

raiment \RAY-ment\, noun:
Clothing in general; garments.

[Origin: 1350–1400; ME rayment, aph. var. of arrayment. See ARRAY, -MENT ]

Fingers splayed like fish bones against the sun,
Catching in the throat,

Cutting the image bloody from your sorry sockets.
A raiment of bones and feathers

Rattling in the breath of their own beastly abandon.
Buried and rotten frames

Animating the worm-tunnel dance in the dirt
Bound betwixt

Their frigid vectors. Alone in the silent soil, feasting
On Newton's first apple,

A worm is a wyrm is a warning shot; a hasty scrawl on the inside
Of a door you can't pop.

Pandora's Wine Bottle

menagerie \muh-NAJ-uh-ree; -NAZH-\, noun:
1. A collection of wild or unusual animals, especially for exhibition.
2. An enclosure where wild or unusual animals are kept or exhibited.

[Origin: 1705–15; <>ménage, -ERY]

Reality menagerie in a tongue-tied head-box
Hope buried-burned in a heap at the bottom
Twisting verdigris a vorpal storm
Distortion on a scale of fish

Lost Paths

aberrant \a-BERR-unt; AB-ur-unt\, adjective:
Markedly different from an accepted norm; Deviating from the ordinary or natural type; abnormal.

[Origin: 1820–30; <>aberrant- (s. of aberrāns, prp. of aberrāre to deviate).

Wandering thoughts on a dark'ning plane;
Lost paths;
Aberrant ideas following
Logically aligned

Curves of causal'ty.

Displacement:
Of terms; of semiotic hallways and bedrooms.

A rearranging of clutter;
Clumping, like snow, of the disparate
Into something holy like
An arabesque caught in your looking-glass:

Observer being observed.

Origin Extempore

extempore \ik-STEM-puh-ree\, adverb:
Without premeditation or preparation; on the spur of the moment.

[Origin: 1545–55; <>ex out of + tempore the time (abl. sing. of tempus)]


These soliloquies began quite thus,
With 'nary a thought to future content:
A capricious whip of that hoary blast,
Once to, now fro, on the taught
And wild wandering tongues

Of the beast and beauty bound,
Osculate on their velvet spread.
Sauvage soit la bête du monde;
Yet beauty's reign shall always be
Obdurately in our heads.