DAVID ADES

         This Space Is Occupied

If this were an inventory            I would be a small item of indeterminate

value

 

Visible but rarely noticed             among the clamour of bright and shiny

things

Half finished undertakings and their fluttering flags

A jumble of polished masks                                         projects and plans

spitting and crackling on your tongue

 

Many tentacled aspirations                     the fantailed plumage of dreams

glossy wrapped smiles and exclamations

 

But this is no inventory:         it is your life and mine         and their brief

intersections

My pallid face receding               right in front of you