Dead Words
Everything was cold
cast-iron and stone
Little feet in new dress shoes
swinging like a bell
from under her good wool coat and frilly dress
defiantly slamming through the sun baked snow crust
What are all of the rocks for? She asked
That’s to mark where dead people are buried
What do the words and numbers say?
They tell about the person buried there
That’s not a lot of words she said
No, I guess it’s not a lot, is it? I said
squinting into the winter sun
low on the hazy horizon.
The Baby Mobile
Over the baby monitor
I listened to his great-grandma
put him to bed
She rocked him
and sang to him
She cooed when he cooed
I wondered if his little memory
would lock a piece of her away
I heard the rocking chair creak
as she got up
soft whispers
I heard her crank the mobile
and listened
as the song played out
It started out fast
then as it slowly unwound
and repeated itself
and became slower
and slower
and slower
until suddenly
without warning
it stopped
Because you’re crazy, that’s why
Sorry, things just happen she said
and I said I that I could
believe that but things
and ideals are like the stink
of melting flesh
and have been scorched
and blazed while spontaneity
has been bled
out of my hollowed veins
sucking sounds surround my soul
I have been where there is little to long for
but breath and air and
suffocation is nothing
but a peaceful sleep
if the panic is subtracted
and death accepted
and whittled away
to kindle the fire broken
down into ones
and zeros the shells
of truth like blind
dull gray eyeballs
that fade and rot
mushy matter maybe splattered
oxygenated brain
with living thoughts
outside my head
thoughts of things just happening
flight plans hijacked
She put her hand up:
A conversation director
directing me to stop talking:
I’m leaving she said
because talk like that
scares the shit out of me
And she did
she turned and left…
Bio: Jason Fisk lives with his wife and two children just outside of Chicago. The Sagging: Spirits and Skin is the title of his first chapbook published by Propaganda Press. For more information check out www.jasonfisk.com.