The computer cable became a serpent
wrapped itself in the metal frame
of your prized wrought iron candle holder
I arose to carry away the computer
& suddenly airborne glass
made a brief cinematic debut
before starting a mournful journey to the landfill.
Countless shards of unreliable reflection
subdivided the instants by 10 then by 1000
until the very decimal system smoothed
& stretched the seconds into an intelligible paste
of levitated milliseconds enabling me
in the wake of that moment's immediate descendants -
a luxurious suspension in which to bathe:
- banished photos of your adolescent braces & petulant hair
speaking in a language you still can't understand
- daybreak streaming into the train breaking your father's concentration
like a carnival of carnality he almost suspected in you
- your nose & lips against your baby daughter's cheek
telling anyone who would watch how intoxicating was her smell
- wisdom that set upon you like a fever
to give up the law you had studied for years to practice.
Each edge slicing my bloodied skin
until having yielded each slow motion secret
I could let it fall
from dissection to dissolution;
this object of your affection
teaching me something
precious of just how you held it:
a
poor man's broom-knowledge
not unlike a poem.