Sonnets from Decivilization

6.

“The only way out is through

The way you came in,” the Enterprise rep said

You explain to me a type of orange car paint

That is also many other colours

Consider this my final poem

For some great meaning only stalls

Long enough to be looked at

When an imagined barrier Is maintained

Have you heard

The parable of the mystic

Who preferred the sound of the orchestra tuning

Over Beethoven’s 5th Symphony?

I guess he had to sit through the whole

Thing

7.

I guess she had to sit through the whole thing

Forever waking up into the soft fact of self

Sublate the need for actualization

Into a new way of wearing old clothes

The colour red rising

Slightly above the other colours

A military plane passes overhead

It’s not the fault of the weather

You explain to the dead sparrow

That poetry is A concave space in the words

& the lovelier paramour of our method

Photographs the same

While occupying the very frame

As if they were on a loop

8.

As if they were on a loop

The days sync in & out of phase

Our iambic advance through thresholds

Of gain, these lines are crucibles of joy

Forged in the abjection of human will

A language upon which the future is hinged

Somehow you make it to March, again

Why can’t I find a place to live for a couple years?

It’s so embarrassing to be alive

I wake up in a strange place but recognize the trees

Like seeing a word spelled correctly in a mirror

Funny, I have that feeling again

Of a funnel above my head

The world pouring in

9.

The world pours in

I don’t want to live I want to live

In a state of constant ecstasy

Yes, yes I do

I am afraid of being hurt

& I love to know intimate details

About different cities

I have my whole life in my head

Can’t you see it?

I remember learning to read & being confused

By sections in the newspaper

Sports Entertainment Politics Arts

Aren’t they all the same thing?

Music

Date submitted: 30 January 2022

Date accepted: 09 March 2022