and skinless
naked, gaseous, and overheated
they swirl in their fancy garb
without a single inch
of solid ground on which to stand
while in the hearts of their neighbors
a fire burns
hot and hard
and on those toughened shells
life
occasionally
bursts into being
Shelly Bryant
Memento Mori
It follows gridded ley lines
of desks banks sharply
flies on A cow skull
Silence is its vapour trail
Watch it land vertically like a harrier
on a frozen girl’s open Science book
Gather to sound its starkness
from an equidistance agreed upon
without discussion A cow skull
Two dark apertures
built to house
gently giant eyes
Marble-ridged molars
that through looseness still offer up
their dust of deathbed grass
Scribbly-gum sutures
bind hemisphere
to vaulted hemisphere
Then departure
