the barking voice of
mushroom cloud decorations
in a notebook; a death toll
reminiscent of the past;
intrinsic pathos, furious
humor. these are balancing
acts of a manipulation.

clenching their foreheads
to the earth in prayer,
an unholy ecstacy numbing
their microscopic worlds.

this humming morbidity
grizzled, a collage of portraits
and bald illustrations.