Issue 15, January/February 1998
William Burns - Two Poems

The phone rang then played dead
So I asked
Who is this really

And a metallic voice
Raspy with passion
Whispered
I am the Wire
Demons and Angels
     sprout from my chest
Running wild across the Land

I am
The Hydra of Many Hands
This is the hand that Kills
And this the hand that Heals
The scolding hand
     the caressing hand
The hand that bites
     and smites
     and smiles
This is the Upper Hand
     and this is the last hand
     before closing

I am the Tooth of Reason
The foot of Empire
The grain of sand
     that speaks the Desert
The ever opening flower of Heaven
The hour of the time after Time

I am the sound of Billions
Pounding the Earth
     pounding it flat
The thunder of every living heart
The wind in the Eye
     of the Maelstrom

I live there now
In the Wire
     in the golden City of Dreams

He was stuck in one of those abstract arguments
You know where they just go on and on
Fly to flypaper

So she took this abstract chain-saw to his head
And there was all this abstruse stuff
   all over the floor
I think he was in a lot of pain
Except for that last part near the end