untitled, fall 2002

These linear days
tread on cracking sidewalks.
Routed through fraying circuit wires,
they plot the hours on fading axes.
Columns of pixels, rows
chronicle the hours, until system failure
shuts down the status quo
and chaos pushes
off
     the
            last
                    abacus
                                 bead.

Then there is
the disappearance of whole species -
erosion layer by layer
of nonrenewable fossil fuels.
Forged only for Time's use,
the great Chain of existence
begins to snap,
the links traveling one-way
to
    disjoint
             nodes
                     of not
                               being.

This succession
of inevitable will-be's
teases thought away from comprehension -
in full, present, circles.
The disjoint not-being
curls up and finds a corner to nap in.
Content to trace the creases in my palm,
I walk along the unraveling road,
pulling
        on a
              loose
                    sweater
                            thread.

Stiff leaf veins
are still giving themselves
to impermanent death.
Resonant strings play a canon
not yet broken from song's exhaustion.
Out on the ocean, where it meets
the sky, the vagrant horizon waits.
My laugh-lines deepen
as I
    navigate,
           make
                 for its
                          eternity.