Remnants - part 6

6.

there’s still half a glass of wine to go

but the peanuts

two inches salty

have arrived

the level in the glass

grins at the spectators;

down the stem

the base tugs on a thread

spoon rises

taste buds bite

and the thread falls slack

roasted beads funnel

back into the bowl

wine shoves a hand into the girls head

the ringing crystal voice

thrown into her mouth

peanuts are my god

Bacchus, God of the ventriloquist 

©2015 Lex Vex

Remnants - part 5

5.

you have never been marble before

when the chisel is brought down

carving the curving

cheek bones and jaws

flowing water condenses

fills in cracks

solidifies

& pushes passages apart

in this slab

the artist digs out a corpse

for feet to skirt around

haughty lips // bulbous closed eyes

dappled red

like the hum of mummification

now tourists pay attention

walking off to the side

now the arches of priests clack over your elbows

a shallow nostril

even the bishop’s toes

stank

no one knows

because no one checks

but the whole floor of the church

smells of sour cornflakes

not that you would know

a stiletto cracked

off your nose

years ago;

all bodies erode

and it reminds me of

flowers etched onto toilet paper

©2015 Lex Vex

Remnants - part 4

4.

is she behind him or beside

elevated on the narrow ledge

a path of walls

uneven bricks jutted

his slope is flat

a meander

in cobblestones slick

but flat

stone the color of new york haze

road with girth sliding out of frame

her red soul’d shoe lies visible

but only from behind

hers, a petal trodden on

by her own weight

as she climbs the ramp

a seat guarded by walls

or a cliff

maybe she will slip along the ledge

scrape a knee

grasp for his blue jacket

tumbling

the road wide

they could still walk side by side

slope = 0

©2015 Lex Vex

Remnants - part 3

3

how did a horse

climb the steps of the arena?

twenty yards up

left the fossil of a horseshoe

did that chap trot back

down the steep

& toss off a higher heel

my Cinderella stallion

dances among men

on a field of blood-

-lilies . The balls of her feet

catching on the swedge

a fallen gladius

that charged ahead of the last

fallen servi

gladiators called

Cinderella slits her ankle

Molten roses

Splayed to the floor

She dances on the steps no more

& dragged off the dirt

meets with the medicus

and healed as lame horses are

©2015 Lex Vex

Remnants - part 2

 

2.

the subjects got bored

swathed in color oil

stepped out of their picture frames

for a drink

her timid shoulder barely squeezes

wrapping around the canvas

she does not want the artist

to see her

flesh

like when her reflection

posed // poised

naked & all legs melded up

into a spine

fused with golden under-paint

the stiff breeze

sweeps a jacket upon her back

as white shirts and suits

leer into her

she wishes she could climb up her frame

& the photographs lining the slant

to the leafy halo

and dangle her toes over

the edge

like a statue

©2015 Lex Vex 

Remnants - part 1

flakes fall off the wall

crusted and buttered

the wall has made a sandwich

its wrapper pulled

peeling away

to a clotted grey

grey been put in a box

the box of brown? Box of mustard dip?

The box of white is broken

though the quality of layers

from her is thick

mayonnaise

world tossed inside the box

grated like cheese through a siv

tattered paper

ripped by a skulking cat

mosaic of hipsters

©2015 Lex Vex