On The Way To Becoming Worthless  /32

 

There is only one way to look at the

coal black eyes of Death

and that is when the lamp

  flickers slightly,

for a reason all its own, when

the truth has been known forever,

and the kettle starts to boil.

 

But you don't carry it back in, the

tempest that it is. You cool it with

liquid nitrogen and then break

it in half by singing to the moon.

 

Otherwise, the directions are the same:

You stir ground flour just long enough

to come to life, then knead, knead

knead past wants and desires.

That will hold your appetite

for awhile.

 

Another way for the emptiness to

subside is to fill it to the top

with oatmeal and then boil it to porridge

in the stew pot.

 

Lacking fire you can pour

the last thought you had about

baseball or gravity into the vacuum

around that emptiness

 

where nothing comes back to you

as you contemplate the navel

of bad breath or beautiful birds.

 

Saying it like this is for just

for the two of  us.  The rest turns to

stone and doesn't exist.

 

32.