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Overloading the Machine
Sham
The woman swam for her son —
shawl, nasal wail and a howl for
the man with the anvil jowls
to no avail:
vanilla ash and
he was a no-show.
The son, in a hail of vain wish —
small, slim snow
from liminal to vanish:
mail on the null-sail.
You can see how the past has come to pass //
in the ferns and sweepings of ore and text //
that shadowed such narratives as had been scratched, //
as though any hotel guest could wipe the blight away //
and in so doing, be redeemed for the moment.
-- John Ashbery, "Tension in the Rocks"
This page was last modified on 2011 December 20. "Sham" by John Sullivan is Copyright ©2003 - 2011, and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.