Late Scrappleism

How little of our grasping 
involves mere clasping
hands before hearts 

royalty before we
legitimated by leviathal lethality
lathered, effervescent, 

over-reliant on festival incipience
partied across time 
and into contractual piety

in which the narrator 
becomes the protagonist

long enough to steal
the shirt off the back cover
of this yellowing spine.