In Absence, and: Hemispheres, and: Under Pretense of Law

In Absence

Faces scratched outfrom Raphael's paintings like Fatherhas left, but daddy's not gone

all our faces rubbed freeof dirt and our ancestry

roots like Dutch elms uprootedwhether they carry diseaseor just the potential

to break through St. Etienne cathedralsin Detroit and Gary, Indiana,when we abandon this place, they'll quake

through the foundation and splintthe domed rafters of stupas

Lalibela churchescarved from single blocks

of stone absorbed by dense florain Chernobyl or Poveglia, sanitariumswhere we store inmates like Australia

because one day they'll reclaimBalbec and Babel—ushered totheir pews by Siddhartha

Hemispheres

When of a suddentime was measured in versus—

in the verses we readthe gods confounded

man's language. We're madein their image, so we dichotomize:

east vs. westnorth vs. south

left vs. right.But the brain is one

organ, one entity. Severthe corpus callosum

to end the seizures,but no more messages

will cross, and communicationbetween the two will cease.

Be it God vs. manor god vs. God—

as in the rivalry betweenEnki and Enlil at Babel

—we must arm ourselveswith mending tools and press

on. Because They intendedfor us to be fertile and fill

up the earth. Though He forgotto specify who, or which two.

So for this, we must ensureour messengers are bilingual.

Under Pretense of Law

The geese defied migrationthis year. They did not flysouth for the winter. No.Oh, sure, they pretended—we saw

them go overhead, honking.We watched them, and

They Watched Us.The geese are up to something.

Just what, we do not knowYet.

They are conspiring with the ducks.Of this, we are sure. We have notseen them together. Nay, we have notseen them at all, but we are sure the geese

did not fly south for the winter.We heard them honk while we brushedour teeth. We heard them honk whilewe showered. While we did our business,

they honked then, too. The ducks haveprovided alibis, and we all knowducks quack, rather than honk. We

are well aware of that fact, thank you.We only questioned them as a matter offormality, to cover our bases, and becausethat is the law. No, we did not suspect

the ducks. We did not have any reasonto suspect them. They have an unfortunateassociation with geese. Due to flight

patterns, and such. They happen to belongto the same family. We don't make arrestsbased solely on such relationships. No.The geese are the prime suspects. We will notrest until they are apprehended. Because this

is America. Here, the law is The Law.