Jeff Encke
These poems are from an unpublished book-length series entitled Most Wanted, each poem refers to a single figure from the deck of Personality Identification Playing (PIP) Cards published by the U.S. Department of Defense March 2003.
No magic you say, no wand
to cut in
on the slow dance
of ulna and radius
to elide
the wound of dawn—
no purpose
in the yellowjacket’s radiance
no art to this chiseled exchange
we gaze at each other
as if, almost by accident
Our minds and teeth rot
pockets seething
with tokens
as we mold a future
to taste digital sweetness
in the shadow
of a smoldering domicile
was that it? the unspeakable
deduced from mistakes
translated as will?
the media’s dolor?
the homicide
tending koi across the border?
As Abelard his Heloise
Simone her Jean Paul
so you had me at a distance
that winter
I learned to speak around it
to paint a maquillage
of soil and sap
the allure of pall
ice storms encasing
the budless black digits of trees
flowers of clarity
Meeting your gaze I hoped to unlock
the answers
labor with the key
spark borne
at the tip of a linstock
to sweep the barrel
of the skull
of which I dreamt
a first birthday
Indian pixie bearing bracelet
small hand rasping
knew I had
a meal of sorrels
drifting through
a Louisiana bayou
under laurels of stars