THE EFFECT
After Gaudier-Brzeska

Under the halogen glow
                     there is no break

                     or gap, only a simple design
                                of lines

& planes, stone-age
                metallic, a Mauser rifle

                         pinched from the hands
                                      whatever comes near

           a dropped
                     leaf

young buck out of nowhere
                 Dordogne caverns

           periphery of my vision
                      forms a bas relief,

                                  broken at one a.m.
                      its clogged hooves,

           silent as the trenches
this paltry mechanism

                 quiet as the night

                                  it passes
                                  out of my mind

gently outlines a shape
                   structure,              ((lines &

                      black barrel,
                                  muzzle

cold blast
           empty as I stood.

                    a