Cage

They ask me why. They ask me again
why. Why the last of. Why the last of
a time. See, it curls up in the doorway & is
the doorway. Then wind and snow and time – your only time –
curl up in it. Then the howling. It’s saying
see, here, in this doorway, look respectfully, it is yr cage. Saying here is
yr opening
that cannot be
filled, these holes where yr ears
should be, where yr eyes shld be, everything
blows through – yr set of wrong answers, yr insufficient offerings,
something not even fire could
burn – all exhalation, sprawl, flow – emptiness
making of itself a shape for a while,

why a while – because a while – that

is the subject – cannot be depicted – u

hold your hands up thinking u are

opened, u are not – u are still shut – completely shut – all

must go through u – shriek, mutter yr
name, no one
can hear u – it’s yr cage, it’s leaking everywhere, lacking
everything – the shape of poverty is time, the form of time is
poverty, we
starve, you’ve no idea how fast we
starve. Are we lost? Isn’t it just waiting. Just like
waiting. Full of waiting? Look, a little sunlight strikes this sill, these
bars, they gleam. It’s even a bit
beautiful – isn’t
it – this dream of being held while the light flows
through us. Look at that latch.
This is America look close. No one wants u
to struggle. Sit still. Wait. Feel about,
they must have left food. They usually do. My
home, you can say. Grip the bars and feel their tenderness. They mean
well. They mean
to keep you safe. That’s why they
shine the way they do. Maybe they’re
angels the wind screams coming and going. Maybe there’s a string & if u
pull it hard a bulb will light
somewhere up there, there might be
stairs, an exit up, but no,
don’t think, you cannot turn, don’t
crane. That rotting smell is of the too-much-thought.
Did that. Sacrificed that. Centuries. We’re done. Are we not
done. Lick your fingers. Keep
your feet warm. This is home now. No more
voyaging. That’s over now.
You have made the exchange.
You have made the agreement re wildness,
remember? You traded it in, your tongue,
remember? In here it’s all about the littlest
trick you’ve learned, remember? You
are just supposed to say yes. Just that. You say it well
without a tongue. And you must train
yr listening now. Not much
to hear but there cld still be
just enough: as in hear this: the moment after. Your moment
after. Touch it. Go ahead. After what?
It does not matter after what. It’s just the after. Yes
it hurts. What do you mean by
forgotten. I mean
not enough. Who is this
speaking. I am the not enough. I am
all you have said. I am yr passageway. You are being shoved
thru – as if swaying they would like u to say, as if
dancing – oh dancing – but no, you are shoved
thru – the mind can’t help – wonder fingers the
lock – latch says feel me, says
u are being recorded,
put your hands where I can see them,
where are your hands where are your eyes,

give yourself up, comply, quickly comply, the wind can’t do a

thing, the light can’t see, the blossoming exit-wound keeps hissing sing.