Tense Intermission
Gumming up the works
is grounds for preemption,
a length of pipe stuck between gears creates opportunity,
unexpected pauses create a bolt of doubt,
corrections are anomie clarified,
dance floors scrub away a footprint of patterned steps,
Sting operations are laid,
a fly stuck in the ointment,
conjures visions of smeared electric blue,
or a struggle under glass for the world to see.
Embedded in hair beneath the skin,
is a breath of memory. The venerable vulnerable.
- Paul Handley