Writing
ZO,
Our balloon drifted down over Greenland
Where we saw the future unscrolling into the past
First, the placating faker was unmasked
Then, grim guards sang in formation
‘Round a melting evil
In sterile corridors dark pronouncements were heard
And a grim decision:
“It’s best to start at the beginning” the good one said
As the roulette wheel spins the birthday room
Starred scepter or proletarian broom
Now “A very small task” in the viny autumnal woods
Kill the wicked witch, return with the goods
Shivering junkyard, bag of hay, quivering fur ball, slink away!
“Something with poison in it but pleasing to the eye”
Set forth our armies, Fly! Fly!
Into the nexus of the jaundiced spiral
We saw the humbug head in his smoke
There was difficulty at the gate
Almost drowned in seductive sleep
We awakened, but too late
Then, chased by pugnacious trees
The beast fled, the scholar was confused
And we saw the arm and axe of the warrior freeze
Towering over our parents,
In special shoes amid praise and threats
We fell
Past the rainbow, somewhere
Into a gray world