20 May 2010 | Vol. 10, No. 1

The Chemist of the Zero Dolmen

by NORMAN DUBIE

The wind tugs at the loose treeline.

Dark skiers push through fog—

the snow adjusts its many shrouds

while blind sled dogs awaken beside the river.

NAS FUT 1012.0 ↓ 31.5. The birches

slice a dull sun.

An orange canister of bread crumbs

settles on the bottom of the river—

a laughter of lenses rinsing from glacial water.

The star threshold turns

its reversed letter.

The dream of the apothecaries' dram

with a further half scruple

across a black sheet of paper. Trakl

with his dish of green tea. The obligation,

a broken ruby gammadion

with two methyl radicals calling

from the doll's house

across the hill

to Greta saying also

to the brother

that it's the eccentricity of the cone

that is killing Georg

little by little…