22. Enter Abstract

for an instance | of

continuity & | stop

to find a path | backward

vilified but | measured

reaction to the | event

vague movements of | waves

the literal | letter

a list extending to the | end

we expected its | aura

precedential | innovation

billions and billions of | once

lugubrious | alacrity

a reason to | behave

their temporary | permanence

that song I used to | swing

belief inhabits the | amygdala

the brevity of | levity

wound up like a | bottom

the sweet ichor of | wound

actual | lies

 

cauterize, don’t | authorize

I can rhyme time with | thyme

pleasure of the | beast

stay long enough to understand | why

deleterious thus | alluring

pistil before | pistol

there is a word for the sound it | lost

ancillary thus | essential

I cannot even attempt to explain what we | demand

definitely, definitely not | sure

they alternate between here and | now

can you please take a moment to | ignore?

the numbers are so great of the people who have | died

I regret only what I cannot | recall

my attempt is | dysfunction

please allow me the right to | fail

the bilges are | bulging

to break something is the only way to make it | whole

they have removed all signs of | death

here is no here | here

 

it is abstract only in the sense that it is made of | concrete

effectively | affected

you cannot hold onto the structure this poem gives to your own | thoughts

parallel | parables

the mothy moth moths | mothly

currently | absent

expectations arise in times of | hopelessness

I do not tell you how | to

the light falls | hard

exuberant | paranoia

motions toward a system of | chaos

we can do | this

first, take a deep breath | now

I am tired of all this | resting

sequence is a consequence of | instance

the particularities of | parts

ablution as a form of | forgetting

do not expect me to remember to | forget

that day? | yes

you must have known we were going to end | here