Poem 33

laissez-faire,  &c
dissimilitude     parts and partitions
pierced in the cold     clouded morning
   below vaulted ceilings
spread out like tall evening
sky;

  the inside and out, covered and
painted like       the face
  the lips    the mouth     the brow
that lingers in the white
of the eye     smiling at things
    loitering           behind

closed    doors and doorframes,
the parts    and clay pieces
curtailed by     convention—
   a gait            dust-trodden  
wildly   cocksurely
& perhaps predictable;

outside,     the colonnade
   wide  standing       serif,
the lines       and gilt freckles
with carvings    & date engravings. . .

and as the façade perspired
and newspapers decayed out of bins,

a homeless/harmless resident        glared
lazily into a familiar face
he had grown     to distrust.