by Shaun Lawton
curve of my eye I can not discern anything through my shot glass.
The rumblings of a city in dusk seep through the slurry of hushed
undertones merging stainless steel clinks from glasses slowly stirred.
In this labyrinth collecting mirrors no one bothers looking at each other
directly for the point of that was lost long ago with the reflected hosts.
I sink into the magnified pores of her face held balanced on a stack
of merging surface edits like a drawn bath displaced by a weary body.
It's been many revolutions since I can remember springtime
and for that I should ordinarily feel sadder than the beer ads on the wall.
Cheerfully I determine that mixing drinks with indentured silverware
may distract the focus from a certain familiar melody floating by.
Its coruscating pattern of decaying notes drift along into the distance
like so many flakes of ash rendered gray as the moon in winter.
The cracked fields of this lit valley fade before the inland sea evaporates
into silence here on a world whose name evokes nothing but dirt.
I'd rather not think about it since my drink became too evenly mixed
for me to want another sip from the cold inversion boiling outside.
