Ecce Oudeis


& the sun rose on Nobody’s
chosen coastline,

fertile fields full of
daffodils all ahalo, their glow

the last gleam we see
before his rocket’s glare reddens

& flares. This has been Nobody’s
adventure in miniature:

fled the rigors & found his tribe 
only to feel the pull toward 

pride or is this just the story
of another boring life?

Goodbye,
Laethwyn, back to Ivy Town


Nobody must go, the body
enormous & failing,

the paint peeling--a cat under the porch
yellow-eyed & losing its fur:

Nobody's come home
to die.  

Open arms in a gesture 
of invisible cherry-stemmed bomb:

do the Batusi one last time
to a chorus of mumbles.

Foot upon the ceremonial hoe,
this banana peel is my body,

the bad cholesterol my blood. 
The corpus laid out

upon the hood of a 2007 
Subaru--where he knew he'd end

eventually.  The scaly, four-fingered
hands swivel glue sticks,

affix the photos, those couple 
reviews, all the movie receipts, 

all the invoices, all the summonses 
& resumés, gingerly

closing the hand-bound tome, emblazoned
by brown crayon:

NOBODY REMEMBERED.

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