peacocks
seem out
of place
and uneasy
here
 
large
rattling
tails
folded
 
eyes
all
neatly
stacked
 
like tenses
of some
complex
and irregular
verb tabled
in a grammar
 
could
should
would
 
or a hand
of cards
 
*
 
stone
human
sky
 
bedded
three-ply
 
colour
leaching
levels
down
 
air glows
diaphanous
 
sediments
obscure
as human
sentiment
grows
colourable
memory
is heavy
freight
 
sky
exalts
light
 
cold sumps
black out
 
the heart
is a chambered
habitat
 
*
 
uh oh
here they
come
 
they’ll hound
you and pound
you and hammer
you flatter than
pemmican
 
they’ll process
the meat
of your dreams
 
reconstitute
soul with
machines
 
and you’ll never
see anything
brighter than
coal
 
*
 
workers
abandoned
work
 
athletes
left off
striving
 
the great
relaxed
their tyranny
 
men of leisure
stopped their
idleness
 
through corridors
and halls
and offices
state
functionaries
were arrested
 
and heard
the concrete
roaring
 
like
accelerated
water
 
*
 
always
different
isn’t it?
even though
you sketch
the structure
beforehand
 
even after all
childhood
spent aloft
or dreaming
outbursts
of limbs
 
branching
surprises
 
and always
from the highest
twig
the redbreast
calls you
sweetly
up