ASSEMBLY

This zoo stands outside of time

Its tenants, absolved of death

Avatars of wood, wire, saw

Dust and skin - the stink 

Of formaldehyde lingers

These bags of water, blood

Are frozen: blown like glass

To the shape of old friends,

Mementos, trophies or curios

From above leers a useless crow

I push my leaking nose against

The glass and in the fog, the figures

Move - my warm breath breathes

Life into these gutted totems

These waxworked golems

The cold death coolness of an alsatian

Loved more than the mealy worms

Now strung taut like a puppet

A physical ghost, fixed and hung

Its foot creeps towards the door

A tabby, back arched in constant prowl

More still and proud than the most well

Trained actor, its bald side sad and worn

Stroked not to receive but provide

Its keeper's comfort in the long hours

Now a mad manipulated hour approaches

Churchmice indulge in a game of chess
A white rabbit spars with squirrel

Fire bellied frogs stumble round a bar

Here, a graveyard for a theme park 

On leaving, a niggling thought:

In this hunter's paradise, museum
Of marble eyes and old memories,

Where can the architects be found?

HANDSHAKE

This was never the hiding

     of knives

        fist

This was the reaching

      across

         the morass

A bridge of flesh

     for your shoes

       to tread

I extend myself

toward