jurisdictionary

walden freeman

inhale, i said
great storied wars of past centuries
pervade my interest
saints rusting iron maiden mayhem
iron boots in the halifax gibbet
mercy me,
lord have mercy
god have mercy
small wooden statues fill living rooms
in rural homes!
inhale! the breath of unseen figureheads
authorities in deep space or black holes
eclipses forecasting ominous shadowy futures
and silhouetted glass house stone throwers
a hitchcock tribute only not a horror
but a comedy
critics pan and cameras pan
pots and kettles again wage war
boiling over, metaphorically as well as literally
there are not enough words to describe how helpful you have been
there is not enough blue
a ceiling saddened but not brought down
there are not enough shards of glass
camouflaged in each tropical body of water
to deter me from setting foot
into the water
like my father's father's father before us
i woke up one june evening and went outside to find that the air was cool but my lungs were burning
i tried to say what i felt needed to be said
sailboated directly down the hallway
flooded the walls with things to talk about
if they could, of course
i know the world is round but it does not look that way
all of the feathers can not an angel make
the gutters are covered with remains of bird and beast
tires wash up in the marsh by the bay by the causeway
excuses arrive from every direction
every mandible moving can explain
away the sins of mankind but not
the percussion
and repercussions
of almighty sunlight shining all year
reflecting from ornaments hung from green-branched gallows
inhale! certainly our lungs are synged by now
inhale! inhale the ash and air and thoughts and feelings and snow!
inhale the colliding asteroids and kuipers and centaurs!
inhale noxious fumes and swallow hurricanes whole!
inhale the toxins in the ink the newspapers!
breathe, breathe, breathe deeply and destined to live!
boys and girls in fields and the elderly scowls! inhale once more!
it may be your last . . .