Illusions Vertigo

Lying awake amongst ashes
In the shallow depth of murmuring silence,
The mind makes sense of the house of mirrors---
The reflections of savagery that accompany captivity
Presented as reality submerged in a dream kingdom.
Looking through eyes bone dry---
Eyes blurred by splinters that were tears,
I lie poking lightly at the footrest, seeking solid ground.

The horror! The horror of paralysis and mutiny
Outside the cave by the tumid river—
The dry stagnant river where only sun-scorched cacti
On arid plains remain.

Sunlight-induced

Drought plagues Greece—Rome—Paris—New York.

How sweet it must be to know nothing
Beyond your mother’s eyes.

Consider Sisyphus who was once handsome and tall as you
With all your ancient explanations of absurdity.
How sweet it must be to live in a cave,
To be a knave and know nothing.

I touch the foot of the bed;
It is still there, but there is no water.

II.

Where are my statues, My wind-chimes,
My harpes et luz?
The bed is still here.

The shadow has receded to its base—
To my feet, to the idea—to the reality,
To the existence, emotion, and descent
Of a familiar vertiginous people
Clutching their gods in a cave,
Dancing among holograms of waterfalls
Cast upon dry walls by yellow film-projectors.

How sweet it must be to live within catechistic shelters,
Marveling at sparks from blocks of flint
Shouting:

Come!

Join the turbulent ring of men
Chanting, etching dizzy stickmen on walls
Of sealed tombs—men sepulchered
Among the lurid ashes of faith.

III.

There is no water within the cathartic tombs
Of a plastic reality.

There is no light,

No dove with olive branch in this vacuum,
No springtime breeze to breath
Song through wind-chimes—

Only a bed and styrofoam icicles

Like bars on my window,

And savage cries.

Disconsolate voices scream.

Yes it is still here—
Still by my feet—
Still.

How sweet indeed to live ignorant of the eternal note of sadness
In the black of your cave on earth’s darkling plain.
How sweet to never awake to smell the stench of acid rain.
Alas! There is water.

I touch the foot of the bed.