I am going to sand the edges of the board
They are so full of splinters
sharp and like a rose's stem
I am going to touch the smooth parts of a stone
taken from the beach the way a bird picks up seeds
hurled into the water
SPLASH
I am going to note the melody of the Thaikovsky violin
let it soar through my ears
like a clothes line
or a kite string
cleaning out all the wax
I am going to go to the wax museum
look at who I used to be
painted and in costume
push over the statue
and
RUN
I am going to catch my breath like a baseball
in a mitt
slamming into the ivy wall
then twisting myself into a ball of paper
thrown into a trash can
at the library
I am going to read the smooth pages
drink the coffee
ride the wave
of silence
ask propaganda to spill the beans
grow a beanstalk and meet the giant
and when he roars I will fade
like smoke
I will slip under the door like water
flooding in a mood
steaming up when I boil water
and then absorbing into the food
digested and removed
then sailing
around the world
to return like Magellan
all these character traits
I tried to strip of their color
removing the dye
that had been cast
and scrubbing it clean
the spots from the leopard
the stripes from my shirt
I ended up passing out instead
of changing the world.
