from Soft Perimeter

 *scorpion of pragmatismriding on back ofturtle of innocenceacross river ofunfolding novelty intoocean of jimmy open the cooler*alien foreign policy sneaks out of think tank at midnightopens fire on neighboring villagewhich is to say, these words aren’t, properly, minethey drop out of a me vs. them paradigmawake enough to the lure of convenienceleaves me free to work the edge in gibbering repoussé*no, not that edgeprecisely, the NFL needs the West Villagewithout having to theorize about itfeelings can once again be a hidden gardenas it was in the beginningsomething to crawl back into*heroes who never leave the dream without a maskpulled from the face of a vanquished realno one else thinks it’s a mask no one can see itglazed as it is with dream and underneath a rain falling upwardthaz right, put a little more skeez in the mixI’m a wanna bonsai the epic*capped teeth and a pair of John Lobbsand the consumer price index saw that it was goodmy condo said let there be cool ones near the chaiseand there was evening, and there was morninglet us sell rad consciousness to brute matterthat lifestyle may have dominion over lifestyle*the shape of the axe-head screamed bad omenwe’ve always been 30,000 years too latemeans-testing a bionic sublimeanother high-pressure area parked over the plainsseeded with mosaics of thunderone must drink the regional brew from a skull*which make it difficult but not impossib--or administrative reason-are not at liberty to disclo-at this time-ease call ba--uring normal business hour-*who better to processyour prequalified authenticationin order to forgetyou better validatego ahead, you’re the arcanaa world can and will become*call usno prescreening hasslessurvivechoosewe’re Shawnand we have twenty vans*____Michael Ives is the author of The External Combustion Engine, from Futurepoem Books, and Wavetable, forthcoming from Station Hill Press.  His work will be included as well in the forthcoming infiltration: an anthology of Hudson Valley innovative poetics.  His poetry and prose have appeared over the years in numerous periodicals, including Conjunctions, Sulfur, Fence, and New American Writing.  The language/performance trio, F’loom, which he cofounded, was featured on National Public Radio and the CBC, on radio programs throughout South America and Europe, and in several international anthologies of sound poetry.  He has taught at Bard College since 2003.