Mania Assumes Shapes

Anne Tardos

Mania assumes shapes of unanswerable riddles, softening, just now.

An older scandalous and perverse object attracts my eye.

I try to reconcile myself with no income at all, you must try it sometime.

Sleep darkness silence, a little truce like a goat’s beard, fascinating device.

Pastime perpetual party with a flourish, indulgent knife and fork, implied kinship.

The born outsiders, the unwanted, yearning for disappointment, listening but not seeing.

On the edge of things that lead to nothing, forever sleeping in soft animal ease.

Dried herbs in cheese cloth kissed the horizon for a second time.

Superficial tenderness total rejection distrust of something or other.

He could see no sign of humanity in her, yet there it was beyond belief but only as a last resort.

Facing the perpetual problem of an unbalanced catastrophe; broken arms, legs, heads, maybe even necks.

Repetition Sunday, pillow lost my keys, missed trains, forgotten appointments, not in the least happy.

Haphazard breakfast, filled with embarrassment and fear, sketchy incident.

Manifest contentment the place does not exist, don’t try to understand it.