יוֹסֵף
What is above, what is beneath
What is before, what comes after
The aftermath of the aftermath
Doesn’t add up
II
For Aristotle rest was the natural state
As with pickle in jar
A genie in Pandora’s for-
Bidden Applegate box
III
After the end of each and every book, Hark!–
The disquiet the silence of the extra page’s scroll
IV
Diplomats are losing their marbles
Rulers are mounting their Everests
Without clothes to recite (Hallelujah!)
Another speech they never wrote
V
Along the new river of De Nile
Pharaoh subpoenas Yosef
To transcribe to spell out
To decipher The Hunting
Of Snark, its blank map
Of permafrost, of implied
question marks: where there’s no X
There’s no point, there’s no plot
There’s no fun
VI
Pharaoh is foaming
Pharaoh is furious
To melting point
Of (well) frumious
VIII
The O in worry
Rolls back
To ground zero
Of Humpty Dumpty
Sometimes the bowsprit
Mixes for rudder of a ship
As Abel was mistaken for Cain
Michael for Lucifer–the naughty list
Goes on, the naughty list
Goes on, the naughty list
Goes on Just ask all the
King’s horses All the King’s
men
VII
That Momus came as Santa Clause
But shifted to Butcher to Baker
Whenever Beaver was in earshot
Merely scratches the surface
The surface on which for tyranny
The Swan glides
On top tide
Of open-m.i.c. Rapture
IX
They’ve scrambled the jets
They’ve scrambled the Ajax
Their Panhard Crabs
Their F-35s & Mark 8 Seals
Because it is what it is
Because it is what it is
Hark I’ve said it twice
This is shadow of dice
0
Two plus two equals V
It is what it is until it’s not
Project Bluebook
Project Bluebeam
Just where does all the money go?–
Into the asshole of Mickey Mouse
00
The X-files are missing their paperclips
Whoever filched them left
One nickel Two dimes
A naked action figure from Return of the Jedi
001
Look at the book bloody & pierced
On the cross
The seven seals locked in his eye
Take a spoon to it and you will reap
You will reap the jaws of THOTH’s crocodile