a poem is a machine.
with many moving parts.
and moving hearts.
cogs and wheels.
arms and legs.
love and lethargy.
a poem is a machine.
with employees.
of the now, the then, the soon.
and the cruelty of happiness.
as spice to the recipe.
a poem is a machine.
with me and you.
with blues and reds and yellows.
all yelling lines and stanzas.
speaking to silence.
and silencing the noise of the world.
a poem is a machine.
of help, of healing.
tossed and tangled in days.
lost and left and decayed.
to be history written.
a poem is a machine.
as simple as the lever.
as complex as a computer.
in the mind of a dead mother.
in the heart of a living sinner.
a poem is a machine.
right and perfect.
subjective and electrically imbalanced.
with no room to breathe.
but a world to illustrate.
each word a world.
each line a life.
poems are complex machines.
responses.
to life and love.
death and all of the above.
a fight against the future.
a handshake with the past.
an attempt to make it all last.