The Chase*


Nick Piombino

 

The poet
alone with life
as day fades out
inhales the ellipsis
wish and dream
truth and desire
unnamed beads
on a chain

The sacrifice
once made, the
ear tells it
again from the
beginning
doubts surround
hopes, a logical
helix

No more imaginary
than real, invisible
exchanges mark a
phase of separation
and restraint, thoughts
occluded from
experience, nets
mistaken for touch

Regrets truncate
misfortunes, sounds
repeat the origins
which produced them
assent disguised as
resistance, a smile
on the face of
satisfaction

Opposite realities
dissolve inside and
pose themselves as doubles,
as choices

as words attempt
to hide from their own
effigies, blend into
themselves and
disappear

 

*This poem originally appeared on fait accompli. It has been reprinted with the permission of its author.

 

Copyright © 2003 Nick Piombino