MISSION IN THE SHADOW WORLD

You can work on one poem for years
before the prototype breaks

and pieces of dark matter
fly everywhere in your lab

and you must vacuum them up
with a malfunctioning sonnet.

A 2nd type of poem
can't wait to break the seal

on your frontal cortex.
It writes itself into existence

and when it arrives in this dimension
it is a phantom.

Adding nothing. Total void.
The 3rd type of poem is a shape shifter.

It makes no promises to anyone.
It floats across the game board.
 
If it encounters a Pegasus
it becomes the Pegasus

but a dark version
with empty soulless eyes

and a black lolling tongue.
The 3rd type of poem is like a mirror.

You must use it if you can.
There are only three types of poems.

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ANOTHER SPECIMEN FROM MY SHADOW COLLECTION

Hollow out the trunk
of a long-dead Spruce tree

with a chainsaw.
Take smoldering coals

and stick them in the cavity
to char the wood.

Fill the stump with vinegar
and plug it with wax.

After several months
the sap should taste

like lavender and pig's blood.
I recommend you siphon it

into vials and store it
somewhere quiet and dark

where it can never be found.
I keep mine in the garage
where I keep all my failures.
Even those I love.

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JUST A SHADOW

Someday I will live in the forest.
I will eat very little food.

I will conduct no work.
I will grow lithe and strong.

I will look at my wife
perched on a rock.

A hungry doe without a home.
Sleek and mysterious.

Nimble and wise.
I will hear my children's voices

coming through my cell
and I will tell them

they are not alone.
That their mother and father

will always love them
in the world that is a dream

composed of many smaller dreams
forming a brittle structure

in which we all must live.
Then I will place the cell

in a puddle of rainwater.
in the empty lot

behind the CVS.
I will no longer need it

now that I am a deer.
And then this deer

will disappear.

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Some of the images from "Mission in the Shadow World" come from a Nintendo game called Archon, a battle-chess game where each player commands one team of either light or dark monsters. When two monsters from opposing teams meet they enter into a colosseum style battle to determine the winner of the match up. My favorite game piece was the shapeshifter, which had the ability to morph into whatever type of monster it was fighting against.

Some of the details in "Another Specimen from My Shadow Collection," were inspired by Magnus Nilsson's recipe for "Vinegar Matured in the Burnt-out Trunk of a Spruce Tree," from his cookbook Faviken.