ADVERSARIES

He held his hands like plastic -- his vestments the finer calling of his trade, vocation as modern strummer of Nature's laws Engineer in brief -- wine glass in hand bestowing the more salient points of mawkish disbelief with cigarette to numb the spine. The Reverend looked down on fire, caught papryus smoke in the bellows of his chest, made laundry of the Plumber's intellect -- tore savage parchment from the soft cheesecutter's contemporary breath. 71 Back to the Contents Page 

 

BARGAINING UNIT

The man about to become a sparrow is shouting his head off wearing green trousers with red eyes framing mustier tweed, he lambasts the lad for not conducting his person properly in showing up for work in a white shirt. The fact the future labour requires only lifting boxes to a shed is a fine point about as important as the man himself who has transformed himself into that sparrow where several would not span the breadth of a bigger man's hand or four could be had in the Biblical sense for less than a penny. 72 Back to the Contents Page 

 

PALAIS ROYALE

The night cold as nuggets, dark as acorn, against your chest; snow falling like abandoned echoes releasing energy into the spyglass, umbrella moon. A solitary figure trapping hapless sparrows not in a net but with his footprints doubling as dungeons against the sun -- here & there rusting eavestroughs ballooning into avenging shadows their harpsichord voices spun on dreams Dick Whittington once used to buy a cat. And once Tom Thumb Upstaged Peter Pan by appearing under a petunia but this is not likely to happen soon. The dawn, forlorn & grey, is a court muffin's handkerchief waved at a sailor far out at sea. 73 Back to the Contents Page 

 

ALCATRAZ

White ibis/blue crane, the arch of wings in full sail over leafy barques a wise stork scanning water like the Disney character, conductor on his train with eye-glasses & stop watch. Sift of wind, unseen hand exploring the pond the stork ungainly on a single leg the bird-man Jolly Roger a pirate burrowing in the muck add skull and cross bones upending frightened fingerlings the snout of the bandit a rifle shot away creasing the shallows. 74 Back to the Contents Page 

 

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