don’t say what it is
just take the photograph
the Wal-mart guard
raising his shoulders
opening his mouth
stepping in the tarmac
to winch the rod down onto your head
the dental secretaries take flight
hovering mercilessly
with the Lysol
glaring over their ritual polystyrene
the cab driver flushes red
describing Anthony Fauci
glowing with pleasure
the young fat woman
flashes her eyes in her cubicle at me
“Would you mind putting on a mask?”
all of the signs outside the supermarket
Masks Required
Get Your Shots Here
and I parade by
and the guard salutes me
the only bare face
by the university
huge glowing letters
a carnival extravaganza
a blinking arrow
to the tunnel of love
VACCINATED
at the Denver Airport, 1994
they paint the mural:
desperate children
faces wrapped in their national
flags staring out
replicants
Rutger Hauer says
all those moments will be lost in time
like tears in rain
the audience stands in applause
Artemis at Ephesus
each breast an egg
decanting
