5 Operations

5  OPERATIONS 

Genome Sequence

1. _____________________________________________________
   
   
   

   

   
   
   
   
   Cutting Him Out

   Sister enters, black chignon glimmering
   Crimson lips slashing that famous alabaster skin
   Smoky eyes black ice, and
   When she speaks she forms each word
   with the round vowels and sharp consonants
   of a singer
   and leaves spaces – as a knifer might
   pause between stabbing

   “I don’t like the way you walk”
   “I don’t like the way you talk”
   “I don’t like you”
   She exits
   silk pants sinuous swishing
   drifting her signature scent

   Nightgowned little sister freezes
   in the hallway where she’s been
   peeking
   watches the quiet room
   watches her almost uncle
   who just two days ago
   took her to fireworks at
   the beach – lying on a
   blanket with Sister
   both of them holding a hand
   under the navy exploding sky
   just two days ago

   Little sister watches him
   rise from bended
   knee – straighten his pants
   slip the ring box
   into his pocket, and leave
   right after their eyes meet
   and he
   winks with a wet eye and a crooked
   sad smile, and that way he
   has of tipping two fingers to
   her in their special salute

   Quietly with a click
   more riotous than
   a shotgun blast
   to her heart
   he closes the door
   behind him.

   
   
   ______________________________________________________

   

   ~
2. • Do Not Look Behind The Curtain of Crystal Waters*
     (a try at a double acrostic)

     Oh if it were possible to only see
     Pull a whimsical curtain around the
     Egregious raping of dignity torn
     Round the manicured bend, there hovering
     Aquamarine reflected magic of
     Theatred sparkle: sea, sun, sand, mystic
     Incomprehensible beauty – sullied all
     Overcome by indifferent victimizers slutting
     Neatly spreading limbs of un-suspecting virgins inveigled

     or...... another try with both sides matching
     
     

     
     

     Oh if it were possible to only

     
     

     Pull a whimsical curtain over seared pupils

     
     

     Egregious raping of dignity torn with casual ease

     
     

     Round the manicured bend, hovering round

     
     

     Aquamarine reflected magic of all

     
     

     Theatred sparkle: sea, sun, sand, mystic threads

     
     

     Incomprehensible beauty – sullied all in greed insatiable

     
     

     Overcome by indifferent victimizers overlording

     Neatly spreading limbs of un-suspecting virgins inveigled near

     
     

     
     
     
     Oh
     Protect
     Each
     Reaching dream
     Arching
     Toward
     Inevitability
     Of
     Negation

     
     
     

     
     

     
     

     
     

     *returning recently from "my" beloved island - the realization that permanent relocation impossible given the heart-breaking unrelenting and I do believe unnecessary disparity in living conditions. 
3. ____________________________________________________
   ~

   

   
   

   Tonsilled

   My brother danced
   into the doctor’s office
   where we had our tonsils
   out – he was four and believed
   the stories of endless ice-cream
   He sung while we waited our turn
   I was ten and slunk in the corner
   of the couch
   Two hours later –
   He screamed post-anesthesia confused
   “Let me out of jail” from his cribbed recovery
   While I threw up in a sparkling bedpan
   And classmates back at school had
   to learn as the word of the week
   to spell my the reason for my absence
   
   
   _____________________________________________________

   

   
   
   ~

   
   

   Exploring Mommy

   They said it was an “exploratory”
   In those days before sonograms
   They made a long cut and went
   Inside to see what Mommy had
   When I, at four, already knew
   They would find only blood and
   Good stuffing

   
   

   ___________________________________________________________

   

   
   
   ~

   The Road To Grandfatherhood

   It begins with a precise slice
   a rib separator
   and a humming saw
   and then
   there it is
   pulsing
   glorious
   crimson fist
   knocking insistently
   on a closed
   aortic door
   until glinting
   through
   the ess curves
   of forested
   autumnal arteries
   blossoming capillaries
   and hair pin turns
   the scalpel
   slices
   clear the choked
   vegetation and
   with silken
   thread sews
   possibility
   from certain fragility of
   a boy child’s life into
   the platinum future
   of the shimmer haired grandfather
   smiling as a yet unborn child
   on a yet unvisited sunlit beach day
   runs a tiny finger along the
   cross-hatched faded line
   from sternum to scapula
   and asks in a clear voice
   “Why do you have a zipper Papa?”