Dara Wier

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INSTANT JUSTICE

(the ground was sliding away from under us)
(there were ten-foot poles touching us everywhere)
(as if we’d been caught in a hailstorm)
(with our guard down) (on a proving ground)
(it was rocky) (we were shaky) (we felt like
icecubes) (there was no lair there) (we had no
den then) (there were too many collars)
(we slipped them) (we left them where no one
could find them) (especially we couldn’t find

them) (I thought you said we didn’t want them)
(we were welders then) (we made sparks fly)
(our masks turned us into some kind of insects)
(we were ants then) (we were straightforward)
(we were dirt-movers) (we were good bone-cleaners)
(we were praying mantises) (we were efficient)
(we were cannibals) (it was uncanny) (we were
at the mercy of tactical angels) (they were
vigilantes) (they were zealots) (they threw

zeroes around like crazy) (like they were collars)
(it’s a cabinet) (so open it) (open it slowly)
(it’s filled with bottles) (they’re filled with
liquids) (liquids are for strangers) (they wanted
to claim their ancestors) (they wanted to walk
one behind the other) (they wanted to stand side-
by-side) (to be in a bucket-brigade) (but there
was no flood) (there was no fire) (they were building
pyramids) (they were mining for something) (they’d

had their brains sealed) (that was a near miss)
(this amounts to a kind of immunization) (it’s a
homeopath’s dream scheme) (it smells like rocket
fuel) (keep your flints down) (don’t say any-
thing incendiary) (there where there’s cant there)
(there was little cantable about it) (they
weren’t singing) (they were storing up ammunition)
(it was a kind of status-seeking) (they were
lever beavers) (their dens were very complicated)

(and their plans were all for sale) (we need
some cantilevers) (we need to alleviate something)
(we are going down in an elevator) (this is a
close shave) (it wasn’t as if we appeared out of
nowhere) (it was a mindset) (they were all roosters)
(they’ll end up in stewpots) (just one will be left)
(just one booster rooster) (bringing the sun up)
(lighting the sky) (so we can see one another)
(so our skin can change colors) (so we can walk

under umbrellas) (so we can reactivate the parasols)
(we need some shade trees) (we need chinaberries) (we
need a mimosa) (with its pink sticky flowers)
(and good limbs to roost on) (and its fizz frenzy)
(and its riot gear) (and its ultra-canonical security)
(it was a club then) (it was all claviform)
(they were clucking) (like they were brooding)
(we were in very close quarters) (like they were
clubable) (we needed a key board) (we needed some

soul-stirring music) (they were all out of
anthems) (they were fighting over the inheritance)
(they wanted the baubles) (they wanted the homestead)
(it was like being tangled in under a Portuguese
man-of-war) (with stingrays for company) (and you
hadn’t had any choice in the matter) (they bap-
tized the dead) (they clubbed baby seals) (they
were motherfuckers) (and what’s the corollary
to that) (we were better off being orphans)

(not knowing where we came from) (to whom we owed
allegiance) (where we got our sharp clavicles from)
(it was a posse) (the dispatch was summary) (we
were down-and-out) (we were on the streets) (we
were blistered) (we were stonewalled) (they
kept sheep in us) (and snakes liked to lie in the
sun on us) (and ants and spiders and centipedes
went in and out of us) (we were permeable)
(we had gooseflesh) (we were acting like stoics)

(you never learned to ride a bicycle) (you were
stubborn) (you were born that way) (it made you
beautiful) (like ants in amber) (that was a
necklace too hard to wear) (it weighed more than
a cinderblock collar) (you couldn’t fly with it)
(you couldn’t float on your back all day on a pond
with it on) (you couldn’t run as fast as you
wanted to when you were with it) (it took justice
into its own hands) (suspiciously) (like an octopus)

BLUE OXEN

(it’s scaffolding) (it’s supposed to be temporary)
(the domino effect) (had been forgotten about)
(it was in storage) (nobody knew where)
(that’s a logging road) (you can see its gutters)
(they leave handprints) (they shudder with dolor)
(nobody could settle on any particular color)
(they meant different things to different people)
(for luck) (on the cheap) (stop now) (flesh for sale)
(fresh fruit) (insect free) (aquafarm) (moon control)

(it was label-resistant) (nobody knew how to embroider
it) (it felt like hailstones) (big as tombstones)
(it strained everyone’s intelligence) (we had tooth
problems) (we’d been flying too much) (our edges
were curling) (we were like silt over sand) (we felt
as if we were sugar dissolving in lime juice) (it
was heavy-handed) (we were covered with treadmarks)
(it was cosmetic) (like crystal handcuffs) (we were
fish then) (we wanted our ladders) (most of them were

rotten) (we can cut down some trees and build new
ones) (we can contrive it out of convection)
(say you’re a weatherman) (seed them some clouds)
(remember how it felt to be scuds on a mountain)
(we had good motivations) (like treeroots buckling
up sidewalks) (we worked like treeroots) (we’d go
anywhere looking for water) (we were hydrologists
then) (we had stewpots) (we were fast-breaking)
(we were aerosol) (we had currency) (we were paper

airplanes) (our creases were in all the right places)
(we hadn’t been stratified so many times) (it was
because they were eye-minded) (they couldn’t see us)
(we weren’t eyefuls) (we were just something to take
note of when they weren’t working) (we were like
scrimshaw) (you were one of the ones covered with flags
and lady liberty) (she was an eyeful) (we were hay
rolls) (then we were haywire) (we needed paperweights)
(we needed dollys) (it was money-laundering they did

as a sideline) (one little cooking fire stirred up
all of that cloudcover) (we were walking through a
ghosttown) (it was a terrestrial globe) (it wasn’t
any bigger than an eyeball) (it was at the bottom
of a fishbowl) (there weren’t any fish in it) (the
water was gone) (and it looked as if it had been con-
signed to oblivion) (do you still have it) (it’s
somewhere around) (we tried to put it in a safe place)
(in one of the treetrunks) (act like a lumberjack)

(show them your blue ox) (your animal companion)
(show them the marks left where you merged)
(they said they were covered with scruples)
(they needed some tearlifts) (you can seed them
with dryice) (that will use up all of the liquid
assets we have left) (then we can sell off some of
the dunking contraptions) (we don’t need them)
(we can act the way hummingbirds act) (we can fight
the way hummingbirds fight) (you can wear your red

vest) (you can wear your red cowboy hat) (it looks
awful) (as if it were made for television) (the
worst kind) (remember the scripts that were written
to teach us something) (past the stratosphere the
sky isn’t blue anymore) (we were unteachable)
(we were woodblocks) (we lived in a sawmill)
(when there was lightning) (it nearly burned down)
(we were unwashed) (we were scoured) (we felt untouch-
able) (and somewhat equivocal again in our science)

(you were always exact to me) (like a storm cellar)
(I liked it near your airstreams) (you never called
me a social parasite and I felt good about that)
(you never said things like the handwriting is on the
wall) (you never said we were biding our time) (you
weren’t a warden) (you weren’t a damper) (you didn’t
live in a chimney) (you didn’t work for management)
(we were still under construction) (there were
warning signs all over us) (in that shocking pink

orange) (like we’d been pickled) (as if we were beets
or some other kind of root vegetables) (you weren’t
a gladiator) (you weren’t resistant) (you weren’t
a virus) (you didn’t know what a firewall was)
(sometimes you did do a little fire-breathing)
(not like a firebrand) (more like a fire that some-
one banked in the evening waiting around until
morning) (there were streets of clouds over the
plains) (we were ice crystals) (laboratory grade)