Poem: Once More

 

Once More

 

to idolize the warmth

on the roof of the mouth,

while the rest of the body hides.

 

the tea drains lukewarm,

thick down a throat,

softening feathered phrases,

while a tarantula with arthritis

captures and scratches,

with pencil to bind.

 

a whole pot of earl  

passes through the urethra

before the writing is just okay. 

 

some of the words breathe, lissome,

nectarine with hope,

if not the verve of pleasure.

 

caffeine and steam, now dead,

unparalyze a tense drama,

releasing the tarantula.

 

fingers quibble with tremors, then,

whether to screw the thermos lid,

or whether, like the brain,

it is drained of purpose,

any last semblance of emotion--empty now. 

 

empty.

 

empty as a lake

that turned to sand

long before the first mammal cried.

 

eyes sizzle-fizzle,

moving zeros next to zeros

under lids gone wild.

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11/16 removed "other" before "zeros" ... added some commas 

10/19/22  "softening" replaces "softened"