Calculating Poetry

practical demons measure her gaze. mud and rainstorms. like puzzle pieces. all the colors wear her down. all the shapes pretend to know how far. stiff bridges. shallow waters. monkeys on the coin.

outlines. soft pencil marks. her lips like canvas. her eyes acrylic. too many artists.

negotiating phantoms. raw windows. play the chemist. sleepy soldiers. ladders through the vein. unwilling to wait for the bones to recognize the stranger.

the mountain. impossibly close to heaven. the pen still stabbing without ink. the angry clock. a fetid superman. all cape. no strength. other than forgetting.

and waiting. so much waiting. so many buttons to push on the broken time machine.