the figures of my speech are patterns
rather than the local people you know in the common
they have angles trajected more determinedly
than the neighbor who forgets and walks away
my figures are less the mafiosi of the village meaning —
more the ancestors they imagine behind them
wanting blood thirsty
to live. my figures really are just a line.
the figures of my speech are just lines drawn
between across the faces of walls facing off
each other all they have
all the calculated tricks and disguises
spoken of things that go up to come down
erasure and begin again the further picture.
Copyright © 2026 by Ed Roberson. Used with the permission of the poet.