[a death watch count down]

there by the trees
     clarified remains left abandoned
in anonymous language venues
    knowing only numb to rule
able to play with knives and forks
    I am puzzled by an exit
requiring eye hand coordination
    installed on paper thin masonry
composed of random personalized greetings
    galvanized buffeting tendencies
persistent with vague shifts to
    reality purge instituted in a lie
begetting the begot
    based on remembrance
based on regret
    only to be dragged back
to mortality without place
    miles from this crude desire

Copyright © 2016 by kari edwards. Used with permission of Frances Blau.