![](https://ecstaticxchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/underwater-galaxies-collage-226x190.jpg)
in a lighter vein…?
FIRST THE KNEES GIVE OUT First the knees give out then the ship’s rudder then the bank account then the canary cage then…
THE PRESENT TENSE
(please click to watch)
You wake up and the room is empty
the light is out
There’s that high-pitched ringing in your
ears or in the air of cosmos
Somewhere a crescent-shaped boat is
rocking back and forth on triangular waves
in pale moonlight
Somewhere a child is growing a new tooth
a salamander a new tail
Someone is making up a story to fascinate women
mislead the police or
write a book
Everything comes clean in the end
even the end
and the end is near
at both ends
which meet
under God’s tablecloth
where the feast is being set out
in golden ewers on sparkling trays
fruits like you’ve never seen
sweetmeats of indescribable hue
shimmering as they transform into the
most gorgeous music and
back again
Come on there’s still
time to catch it
Your life hasn’t gotten
that far away from you
The room is empty
but your heart has a pillar of flame
from which a phoenix launches its
renewal in a fireworks of ashes
Worlds within worlds
in this empty room
in the present tense
that never slackens
5/11/2010 (from In Constant Incandescence)
Categories: Poems