Do Not Fold Spindle or Mutilate
Between handle bars
and curb
a lack of friction
the locked-break chipped-tooth surprise
as tongue stumbles and
why the mountain bike wasn’t your idea
it doesn’t work that way
thinking of things to sell
the toboggan leaves the cliffyou leave the toboggan
those old cartoon tumbles
ava-launch and airborne
the tree comes at you
a difficult cycle to captureSaturday morning’s sit ’n’ spin
Spirograph battles Hurricane Hank
the animated feature
the space between line drawing
and colour blur
filled by computer now
the optical reader in high schoolhours with pencil computer cards
keep edges clean in a shoe box
wave a hand over
say magic words
Job End Run
mail to the phone company
and one week later
you’re told whether you have aptitude
e) all of the aboveI have a joke for you:
artificial intelligence
the Robot and Dr Smithreach a binary understanding
shut upstart talking
Healthy now
dressing fluid
drinking plenty of warm liquid
no longer calling in my sleepthings like Patch Cords or
Don’t shoot I’ve got aptitude
no longer a dim light office prowler
on the copy addict help-line
toll-free Xerox exorcist talking down
more the old black and white’s grey blue dancethrough to the street side of your bedroom window
and even with the sound down
2 am commercials sell in stage whisper:
ARE YOU SUFFERINGFROM DEPRESSION
I am water draining clockwise in a northern hemisphere
and someone hands me a plunger
or a matchbook:
Be an achieverorder our free career booklet
computer hotel management
vcr firearms repair
the correspondence school of art
Do Not Mail MatchesDo Not Pass Go
the thing is
I’m not sure how to thank you
Let me introduce you
to the guy in the basement
inventing earthquakes
his hands are tremors
you can feel through the baseboards
pushing us to accidental somersaults
we land
running unconscious
come to with meand I’ll show you my tattoo
everything I’ve learned
in six words or less
written in small print
on my instep
see the way it curves?
a girl in summer printfollowed it with her finger
and disappeared
she left directions to her tree houseit’s not far but well hidden:
cross a brook a highway an old dirt-road
turn left and if you promise not to tell
I’ll write them in a note to you
with secret code
be sure to swallow it.