Paralyzed

20 May 2012

in the basement of the local museum where the fossils are kept--

the bug caught
in amber

crystallized, a twitch
solidified (hence
Circle chopped)

wiry leg-stumps stilled in
fleet
--checked

(I bet his eyes are still open and all and he has to
watch people press their faces in and then walk
away, home to
eat sandwiches or wash their hair,

and the steam from their
skin fogs the glass case for Four seconds)

stiff like the back of a folding lawn chair and
forever opened,
"Come and inspect me!"--spread but
mute, dumb,

and lame
, like the plastic doll in the
nostalgia shoppe sky blue and white striped
blouse Still stained with
1957 Ovaltine

Reviews

[Delmar Cooper]

This is a masterpiece. The bug, the doll, the poem stopped time, and made this reader fear the stopping of the heart before the next ticking of the clock.