Fourteenth

The fourteenth way
of looking at a
blackbird involved
voluntary blindness

and was therefore
never attempted.
Of the thirteen
ways described

by Stevens only
eleven could be
duplicated in
subsequent trials.

Of the eleven, three
were identical twins.

Modern Life

I sometimes experience
moments of such
profound uncertainty
that I deed everything

I own to my
imaginary sister.
I then deliberately
take everything out

of context in order
to confuse the
enemy.  When that
doesn't work, I

fall asleep and
dream that it does.

Meaning

A ping-pong ball
from Japan washes
ashore and is
the losing number

in a lottery confirming
the inevitability
of death.  A
lamp lights up

a room in vain
(every eye is
shut for decency's
sake).  I take back

everything I ever meant
about meaning.

Braille

Abandoning the figure
has proven that
abandoning the figure
proves nothing.

The museum floor,
littered with bits
of broken language,
is building a

tower of meaning
out of babble.  A
blind man watches
porn in his imagination.

The best are full of
a lack of all conviction.

Deep

In the deepest parts
of the deep South it is
believed that if you
look at any animal

long enough, it becomes
an alligator.  There
also exists there the
notion that it is

wrong to rape
a woman who is
willing to have
sex with you.

Just have sex
with her, they urge.

No Solution

Trees slice
the sunlight
into shards
of its former

self.  Shade
drops from the
trees like
ripened fruit.

It is always
either morning,
noon, afternoon,
or night.

There is no
solution for this.

Perhaps Not

In my will
have requested
that pieces of
my dead body

be distributed
to the meek
so that they
 may continue

to believe that
I once existed.
Perhaps this will
help them to

understand why.
Perhaps not.