and when the kind-hearted lab technician
afflicted by disturbed dreams
could no longer stand to hear the chattering teeth
of the green-eyed chimeric monkey
could no longer bear to witness its grasping for breath
belaboredly, a creature chimerically suited to the
turbid, turbulent times, its avatar sitting
highest on the totem pole as the wood worms
gnaw on its base, undistinguishable
from the fate of its makers
she gently reached for the needle, aspirated
the accurately labeled clear liquid
but then decided it needed a more ceremonious
sendoff from a world that had summoned its
existence for its convenience and was ready
to effortlessly discard it, with nary a thought
she reached for the canned poetry vial
where Sappho had been mixed with Neruda
and Hikmet with Rumi, Holderlin
centrifuged it with Li Qingzhao
added 30 cc to the sweet deadly liquid
looked in the chimera’s trusting green eyes
was embarrassed to pet it, with one arm hugged it
and with the other gave it a shot
“Safe journey sweet chimera of my doleful heart
may we meet again as caring brethren
in the Y dimension once we cross
the threshold where the portal
opens upon a meadow of lilies and residual flowers
and we skip hand in hand
in the miracle of a planet
where everything breathes as one.”
November 10, 2023