Soft Landing

I
Click of the knee, like a latch in need of oil,
And then the twang of coming back again;
Like sex you find it easy or impossible
By the dusty road and the flatness of the plain.

Invite her home, she likely knows the reason,
And maybe ask to have the Jew come by
To measure your estate and set in order
Those things that even settled don’t seem right.


II
Old women have their right of way, they bicker,
Concerned over careers and young lives,
Who married whom and why, and how things differ
Now that what gods they followed proved a lie.

Some creaking voice once promised good martinis,
And kept apartments in the best hotels,
And sold what furniture they had for food and
Listened to when Stravinsky set the tone of dread.


III
Estrangement is our common sight, a vision
That public faces alter into sin.
Don’t think to look away or to escape it,
It has no taste or smell or quantity.

What monuments of man deserve attention
By endless commerce of oncoming night,
The jabber of philosophers, and logos
Of an enlightenment you can despise.


IV
Come verify how little the earth spins then
Go see the playground shrunken to a size,
And realize how comfortable life is and
Pretend the solace doesn't terrify.

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