Artifice

frog.
status.
lingua franca.
redoubt.

build the bridge between them
or leap across?

flora.
wrench.
mixed results.

thick answers form
around the library tables.

sunspot.
ignored signs.
curbstone.
face.
jawbreaker.

witness the decided
and determined attempt
to capture the flag
and own a meaning
never intended.  no design
worth mention except as it is
created; literature as a roll of dice —

vinyl.
commitment.
trash box.
sticky bones.

on the way home, realization:

burning.
burning.

repetition is as random as it gets
anywhere.  no reason for discrete
sounds, as any will do:

finale and symphony,
sycophant, blind-eyed,
lugging, baggage,
passage and lockdown,
screwheart, fingerling.

we sleep on the wet,
pretending memory
of a dry crossing.