Nominally

A poem from my upcoming book, Cactus Land:

Nominally

Tepid laps around the obelisk, obscuring what circles can do. The
graybeard's swim in a ritual of failed drownings, colloquial jest of placid
waters. A limerick of tall orders, putting short people in a place they
can reach. The collaboration of distance in the holding dear. A
challenge to the granular quality of salt, to serve as grit in the grating
collapse of an empire; a testament to the bravado of entropy, securing
chaos a slot in the hall of fame. A melodrama mooted, in cutting to the
chase of the lighthearted through a slaughterhouse. Troves of shadow,
stalking architecture to congratulations for its performance between
the lines. The casual cruelties weighing in at 600 pounds. The bluntly
put to rest in nuance. The hardly noticed in its ubiquitous array.