ITERLOGUE 1-10

 

by Spencer Selby

 

 

 

 

1

 

 

Seeing eyes of screen which erupt

at regular intervals on command

 

Snatches of monotone humming
path to impediment flanked by

 

crutches at the back of an unlit room
Burning half darkness shows issue

 

spotted with mold as though the
structure had been broken and

 

resealed under vague threat

of a single point just beyond

 

 

 

2

 

 

Framed need or wrinkled
wish that cannot be fulfilled

 

In the long run only pause
while existence has never

 

been more than dread good
getting used to static before

 

a transformation confused
with bushes leaves no trace

 

in the wind-ruffled prints of
bare feet and legs outstretched

 

on the move dumping facts
that give the impression of

 

a spacious landscape in the
windows hazy from smoke

 

while in reality air itself is
a forest of fading barriers

 

built up with transmitters
tempting manifold forms

 

determined to go by instinct
to judge demand returning

 

from a nearby market feeling
impossible attempt made

 

at communication during

torrent from book still closed

 

 

 

 

3

 

 

Drive or be driven along
grievance repeated,
do acid detail between
apples on shoulders

 

Feel scream run through
body silence that anyone
can have by accident

 

Protest ready at hand
distributes ungainly order
for all disparity

A group like dirt truck
heavy on each other’s back,
huddling under flag raised
in a gleam now parked

 

 

 

 

4

 

 

Crazy about wanderings
that seldom dare to leave
mental cubicle holding self
I didn’t feel sorry for

 

Longing instead of moving
around in crowds
could survive like those
in a dream and alone

 

Encounters require nuance
more than visiting attended

 

Bent by jolt under two trees

parallel branches form
an arch for wires scorched
like clouds in the breach

 

mixed with soot and birds
to avoid platform deserted
at the same time it appears

 

 

 

 

5

 

 

Expensive curtain dropped
on a plea for spare change

 

X marked in field of choice
given a gift for escape

 

even jaded news hounds
regard as folly at the peak

 

Expression suddenly far out
into absent reverse zone

 

with edges of lifelong action
that has made an obvious

 

mistake throwing rope down
and over projected balance

 

Support role conducive to
client behind thick glass

 

treading rhythm necessary
to incessant buzz of traffic

 

spread over massive critical
holes in a block of shared ice

 

 

 

 

6

 

 

Room bursting with protein
accentuating tradeoffs

 

provided almost flattering
message of property damage

 

that dominates reports
from army of contraptions

 

used to reinforce behavior
in a tone of rising amazement

fueling inserts at the corner

of one particular day playing

 

data class card to get bearings
while being distracted by those

forced out of the current mold

 

 

 

 

7

 

 

Growing anxious at intervals
to etch a jagged line at upper
reaches that become nostalgic

 

above town clock losing shelter
in perspective across floating
rows of megaliths at each end

 

This chimerical effect long since
erased from the situation a man
associates with last steps taken
by the author of an old book

 

The reading remains shut up in
itself to reach threshold first
noticed in a voice which was
either too low or too high

 

as though an audible word had
never been spoken except to make
sure tomorrow will be like today

 

Here clarity is an illusion
no mirror image can replace
There may be one whose eyes
become a knife opening a piece

 

of living flesh to say commentary
as such will have a roof over
one’s head and a place to sleep

 

that is restless and confused in
the light of characters in doubt
shuttling around barren paths
leading to dreams of death which

 

served as a station of transit
for poets considered insignificant
by the next regenerated engine

 

for those disloyal because travel
used strange terms to make
contours come alive from depths
on page after page while actually
listening to something else

 

 

 

 

8

 

 

Lured into a trap to blame
generic brand of anguish

 

mixed with random sticks and
stones buried centuries ago

 

by some child at play deriving
inspiration from game obsessed

 

with ring established by local
custom put in context far from

 

inkling of solace spread across
graves of those who perish in

 

ignorance like some tourist
of the hidden sea and vessel

 

of luminous sadness scanning
the horizon while missing
 

wind that shakes whole body

to renew itself each time

 

 

 

 

9

 

 

Fringes love whistling of
assemblage behind a ruin

 

that might be mistaken for
what was once a place of

 

worship showing precepts
that develop wrong power

 

Soon goes to hell enclosed
by ramparts pointing at

 

anomaly like wild crown or
crooked tool scratching

 

outline of journey within
beholder racing toward

 

wire mesh trash ticket
joining a procession that

 

suddenly stops on a dime

 

 

 

 

10

 

 

Note glued to windshield
steaming in the humid air

 

waiting in line of credit to
access contours of night

boulevard packed with stiff
drinks following curse aimed

at cash machine that giveth

and taketh human value as

 

an angel blows kisses to
the homeless on a dare

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spencer Selby is the author of eight poetry books, five compilations of visual work and a study of film noir.  Forthcoming from BlazeVOX is a new poetry collection titled, BLAME FAULT MOUNTAIN. He is online at selbysart.com.