Witness The Magnetron

Presumably, she's brave
in other words, sleeps
without taking a thing.
All night long people are
buying something, tree
trimmers to water softeners,
a constant flow of mostly
things to control nature
and yet she resists
the forecast, the soaps,
the whole array of colors.

It is said, she is very
award-winning-
or the neclace in this case
is lovely like bread
is removed from toast
with a finger, a long ago
time of coddled eggs
and children, eye tests
and radar-ranges,
a history of spot-checks
and medical try-outs.

In some ways I saw them die
by using old photographs,
dancing with their shoes off
in the church rectory,
their feet generating static
as eyes, hands, tastebuds
carry on intently, trying
to reverse a thousand decisions.

Witness the yacht club
for body sculpting, witness
the update to drop
me a line, witness to the reunion -
the we'll pray for you,
the sheer number of workshops -

the plump babbles
of our thalidomides

her generous buffet
aisles upon aisles
of bone meal and condensed
soups, open the bread and a vision
of the wives and children
asleep on her lap plop out,
until applause like rain
stops coming.

Witness the ample sufferance
of jay walking to the endless
summer of the midwest,
ahh, the endless well-being
of seeking the right size.
What shall we do to wake
up from fourteen years old?
Better yet, do we dare?
The shoplifters amaze only me,
as the victims return
to the scenes of the crime
and want only more of the same.



And this just in...the Pope is found to be a Creationist afterall!

"VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI formally created 24 new cardinals on Saturday amid cheers in St. Peter's Basilica, bringing a mostly Italian group into the elite club that will eventually elect his successor."














OWL

When the owl slipped
away from the world,
he was in my arms
and wrapped in my prayer
rug, the one I keep in the back
seat of the '95 Nissan,
the murder weapon in
the driveway and it was
still warm. As he died
his head fell forward
like a newborn babe -
so few people ever see
an owl let alone hold
one, dead or alive,
so few ever hold both.

It hurt. It really hurt
to have killed such a thing:
half cat with hollow
bones and fake ears,
a witch with two hats.
For such a terrifying beast
they aren't made of much
and weigh no more than
a pair of boots or a rake.
There are no accidents though.
His body lay on the extra bed
until the morning. He refused
to answer as I returned
more than once to ask:

Which sign are you?
What can I do?
Are you sure?