Brutalism

CIVIC center, brutalist concrete slab.
SLAIN all attempt at grace or soaring flight,
CLING to what might have been, dream somehow you
SNUCK ornament or proportion into the design.

Child of the Times

PAGAN efflorescence: flesh, sub-gods, to which
FAITH, until yesterday a cohering hope, now mere accessory.
TIBIA, bearing load, yet below, blind to inky canvas self spell.
ROACH, scent rising, incense of current prayer, but as smoke knitting nothing together.

Dreams of Peacetime

PHASEs ripple back and forth as dream reality smoothes:
GRAND views of peaceful lands, raveled wars knit up, displaced by
WHIFF of everyday, wet leaves heaped on lawns. Appetites go benign: Say for
DONUT, something trivial to want that needs no ammunition.

Twice shy

AGENT offers me a no-
FRILLS contract. Feel
BLEAK, suspect something
SNAKY about this deal.

Words should have been: AGENT BLEAT FRILL SNAKY (!) – hence the following second attempt:

How can I experience the FRILL
Of the circus? Here comes A GENT
To make my hair rise and my voice BLEAT:
‘Learn to pronounce “thrill” first, you flaky-SNAKY!’

Art’s Beginning

‘BEVEL out stone’s jagged edge’-thought which perhaps
BEGAT art’s momentum, smoothing sharpness from the hunt to other use.
BRAIN stitching connections beyond subsistence:
EARTH a stage, a mirror, a canvas, a manifold of signs.