Page 24 - Poems

After
is a tireless,
tiresome entity,
spawning mounts
endlessly: no two ever
identical, each nervous &
nimble, some slight, certain
tender, a few filthy, others
jagged, with every single
last one rushing down
stage to greet a full
galaxy of foot-
lights. After first
the numbness
the instants of baffled
wordlessness as the ushers’
words – hostage crisis/attacks
all around Paris/danger outside/
please remain/please comply – strike
ears but not the brain, break down
somewhere between neurons
and axons or earlier, come
minutes that swallow
the still-unlit hall
and screen.
After
that flight
from gentle souls
trying to keep us safe
and alive and unmaimed
(safe deep inside the movie
house), we climb back to earth,
greet the stunned canal below,
&, for a moment, stop to seek
a sane reason (still unseen)
for our heedless, need-
less retreat out in
to the street.

24