INTERIOR OF THE BOX

“Bureaucrats write memoranda both because they appear to be busy when they are writing and because the memos, once written, immediately become proof that they were busy.” — Charles Peters

The interior of the box
is the exterior of the same
box. The nightmare closes.
It opens to sunrise and bad
coffee, and then we pause
before we crush the ugly thing
stamping on it, we notice
whole, precious jewels, —
when the lights were turned
on the gas released dried us
before we could stop the flow.

No one cares about the middle
of the box, that core, the central
corridor where we all walk
endless fascinated with our own
importance, and not contrite
when we are wrong about war
so we lie to keep the story straight
and history has to work time
and its half to replenish false truth.



3/5/06