No Atonement

This book is entirely fictional! ! ! A tilted scale spread out on the street corner at dusk The rusty hands are breaking off the dial Cracks in the asphalt are filled with crushed snail shells in their spirals There are festering growth rings throughout the city Neon cuts through patches of clouds The mud from the sewer backflow overflows Manhole cover at the seventh rib position The cracks in the bell tower ooze the smell of rust like some unfulfilled judgment Blue-gray mold growing in the cracks between bricks When the shadow of the iron fence cuts into the asphalt road Someone is dumping old grievances into the gap in the moon The green fire exploding in the pupils of the wild cat Scorched all the testimonies that tried to sprout And on the rusted fire escape Hanging dried cicada sloughs Like a rest half stuck in the throat A cough came from behind the iron door at midnight Dark red cigarette butts burn through the ink on the duty sheet Spider weaves knots in surveillance blind spots Someone used a rusty wrench Tighten the leaking starlight I count the air vents sealed with cement Until the bars press the spine into a question mark Until all the accusations are curled up into The dregs that refuse to sink at the bottom of the teacup And Dawn is always stuck in the printer paper inlet Like a tiger head guillotine that can never be fed enough Chewing tons of gray silence