A Tiny Poem of Disquiet
What if the words that you're reading
somehow are changed and rearranged
by the time you get around
to reading this poem again?
Have they not altered
subtly even since
you began reading?
Poems are not novels
where you have to turn a page,
though they do that by themselves
deceiving their readers into believing
that they are reading it
and not as is true
the novel reading them;
But a poem,
surely not?
then again
what if the words you're reading
never change?
What Obeying The Law Entails
Their
daughters worked the “Viper Room”
until
four a.m.
there’s
only charred wreckage
on
the spot where it stood,
the
Fire Department logged the call
at
four thirty-one a.m.
forensics
revealed the fire
started
much earlier;
seven
bodies were found,
shocked
the township
newspapers
said,
sympathy
and flowers
were
slow in coming
grieving
relatives left much unsaid;
the
Priest read from Deuteronomy,
something
about cutting down groves,
amongst
those listening
some
involuntarily wiped their hands,
in
case the kerosene smell
lingered.
Louis Kasatkin is founder of Destiny Poets in the UK and Editorial Administrator at www.destinypoets.co.uk For more than 20 years a Poet and Poetry promoter, Louis has been Poet-in-Residence at Wakefield Cathedral and workshop leader in schools and the wider local community.
Excellent poems.
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