courting jesters

gavels floating in the open
like cataleptic astronauts freer
in the space between deaf ears
not one of them will fall on

judges throng the killing fields
presided over by wraiths
of blank-faced youths
that put the doll in dollar bills

an orgy or a jury
dislodged, they smolder-and-reflect
upon the un-scene, in which their necks
as if to speak, show rope burns

give birth to someone
who didn't know they wanted it

teach how to fuck
how to fight
and maybe
how to tell the difference

expiration

commited suicide
because they wanted to live
unable to shake the paranoia
of endless pins and needles
suffocation and pain
dull and sharp
dreamless
sightless
soundless
numb
driven by a ravenous
purposelessness
ripping at their bodies
rotting alive
screaming "I love you"
and
"I don't wanna die"
as they made love
and died
filling up their lives
like mass graves
for all they could never be
the universe, infinite and growing
they, statistically nonexistent
clamoring for breath
in the sucking void
"I love you!"
"I want to live again!"
gone forever
as if they had never been
and God wept
over his own
head-
stone

body is relative

body without mirror wanders
through a mess of wandering bodies
mirror, mirror
don't look now, or you'll miss it
body is relative
amidst bloodless relatives
separated by perception
clinging to gift-wrapped
genius

body without candor strides
through a convulsing mass
on the wall
you can look now, they've all gone
body is relative
to each unraveling mind
compressed and long confined
singing songs of fading
dreams