STASIS ENFORCERS

I.

man lost in his own factory 

calling his wife

from falsified telemetry 

crossed wires melt his face

until it adopts consensus reality 

II.

a time spiral on a landmark prior 

the steamboat, the zeppelin

entire crews go back in dehydrated bags 

naked cave magnates

report to the crypt keeper

overseer of the chain of command

there are officially no shallows in 

redacted Lake, redacted 

III.

the figures entering from nothing 

whitewash the vicinity 

build a city of cardboard 

receive payment in recycled identities 

a gulch of snakeskin 

glutting with the background noise 

a missing person right in front of the mirror 

the cheapest paper this side of the river 

IV.

the time sensor intersects 

with the yellow spot of the Oregon Trail

so take only what you need

for the impermanence 

of the family portrait 

its protracted light

scanning for intruders 

V.

neither an initiate nor associate

you’re excited about supposed new things 

homologous to a pillar of salt 

the company of sickly envy 

the supply chain of capitulation  

a sceptre incapable

of take your pick 

VI.

the frontiersman leaves behind his skull

full of artlessness and elderleaf broth 

readying itself, hardening    

to falter from subtraction 

to bag itself up 

new man, same ignorance and anodyne process 

VII.

the whole lot is labelled, stored 

and then nothing moves

until one nameless man replaces another

boxes become bags 

like a royal family 

recession cordons, hollows itself 

the inevitable, unmarked transitioning 

landfill to carrion 

unclaimed by earth nor sea  

VIII.

the thistledown covering 

the smoke turning itself out 

melds with the rain 

runs into a blanket 

could it be any more obvious 

packing light for summer camp 

promises made in every letter 

before containers are needed for multiple use 

stacked so high they block the view 

IX.

an amnesiac species 

collecting every bag

every greyed fruit 

sinks into the ground

a sky in name, unlocatable

an earth is only as good as its crust  

X.

perturbations from a cold environment 

the aura of Ingersoll 

the corner of the body bag missing 

cannibal, coronal mass ejections 

celebrities wrong-footed by their replacements

the presidential doomsday plane 

arrayed in gold, scarlet

twerking with a defibrillator