19 April 2009 | Vol. 9, No. 1

Offerings

by SOMMER ANTRIM

Two loose pennies in a pocket

          abandoned forever to the lint trap

                    dusty unders of a shelf

                                        weed pushing up through a road crack

bum bundled on the corner begging

          for change

                    when it is everywhere

                    unstoppable

          pause                    for the next heartbeat

breath          gasping for the last

ears counting the measure

          of moments to seconds

                              seconds to more

and finally none

          and where do you go

when there are crumbs laid out

                                        in every direction

little blackbirds eating happily toward you

                    even cactus bloom

                              even without water there is survival

          adaptation and revolution

above

                              moon

                                        hanging on an extraterrestrial noose

dead mans head

                    dis and re appearing

                              smiling (always)

becomes a to and fro of oceans

                    beating over the shore          a heavy rolling

                    of boats that have set out to cross it

          for pleasure or trade

                    escape salvation recovery bounty

                    a copper shining disk lighting the way

          the clouds mock a row of backlit palms

or 7 well manicured tall atomic explosions

a mirage ahead of me

on the highway up from Los Angeles

                                        rolling on worn rubber

away from the fire

          the Santa Anas spreading ash and flames

          the holes in my friend’s lungs

                    her body eating her own heart as if it were an intruder

where I laid out her pills          a glass of water on the table

                                                    and quietly snuck out of the door