Success is a dress
neither blue
nor black. Press
hard enough and
the space will bar
your thumb. Each
gambit numbs the
mind, binding body
to nine extra degrees
on an already hot day.
Trial balloons become
antecedent pauses,
floating currents away
from the grace that might
have swayed the trees
should the eyes have had it.
Have you had it? I've heard
it called enough. That is why
the phone rocks back and forth
from the counter, off the
hook. Disappearances may
feel mysterious if the expectations
have been delirious. How spurious
was the curious course? It was taut
enough to rewind steel wire, to
retire the reeling quagmire. Watch
closely or become unchosen, and
that decision derives deprives contrives,
living on well after a career
has died.
Roman Ryan 