Paper
Cars
Beside
the graveled shoulder on a curved road
that was never there
I
discern fresh scat of some harmless predator
The new
lambs scatter among the shining trees in an impenetrable wood
Behind
the polished desk in a shingled house
that was never there
I peruse
recent catalogs of unwanted tools
The
young postmistress laughs at flocked Arabesques upon brocaded wallpaper
Before
the locked gates outside a shuttered factory that was never there
I squint
in the growing light of darkening lamps
The
adolescent mastiff licks at nervous fingers on his endless tether
Beyond
the barbed wire atop a chain link fence
that was never there
I smell
the dead water of dammed rivers
The ancient
sturgeon fly near the deep margins of unseeing eyes

The Lamb -- Franz Marc