salient zero (2017)

An instrument balm, her voice aphrodisiac

booming emphatic enough to cardiac

   arrest any sheriff, or bailiff of cupid

   tasked to swoon swain stupid's


mead-merry eyes, drinking all wenches,

in bleary bleak praise, half-glued to benches

   teetering toward such sultry-smooth bait

   odysseus and frank sinatra can relate---


---mermaid her siren thigh shimmering tone

---oceans of strange fiends atonal, bone

   reaped of sheepskin the razor reefs claimed

   the toll song extracting, not first explained


Bombing a silent salient hero

searing ear pleasant (math with all zeros)




Portland Or
2017