Friday, May 23, 2008
OTHER PEOPLE’S LIVES
Day appears through
a sieve of dust, through a maelstrom
of institutional schemes and designs,
as other people’s lives kaleidoscope,
a whirlwind of butterflies, photogenic
as a nation-state, perpetually
childlike—
Night appears through
tear-translucent glass, through insinuations
of blue and the spiritless quality of ice,
as other people’s lives glitter and slip,
beads of mercury beneath your
fingertips, or a keyboard
of fireflies—
a sieve of dust, through a maelstrom
of institutional schemes and designs,
as other people’s lives kaleidoscope,
a whirlwind of butterflies, photogenic
as a nation-state, perpetually
childlike—
Night appears through
tear-translucent glass, through insinuations
of blue and the spiritless quality of ice,
as other people’s lives glitter and slip,
beads of mercury beneath your
fingertips, or a keyboard
of fireflies—
