Rugged

Rugged

Out, dog!
out, cur!
thou drivest me past the bounds!

—Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Use this, a whitewall tire skidding
on a dark night, a shadowy cityscape
a rain-coated woman approaches
up the steamy street
one moment she is a silhouette
in the street light
a misted penumbra
pain is here and muscle
& then she finds what she needs
a telephone booth
she inserts a coin, dials
speaks into the receiver
listens for an answer
there is no answer,
she goes on and on

Use this, the whitewall tire spinning
into a big brass gyroscope
spinning, turning over
over again, hovering in the sky
where a man yanks a pump handle
& a pressure gauge responds
but the pumping goes on
& the gyroscope spins
on and on

Use this, the urgent device
a guidance device to control
what comes next
& the florescent bulb
& the microwave oven
& the cube revolving in the hand
driven by the guidance device
& the sinking feeling
that the man running
is running out of time
& leaping into the sky
& pumping his arms
& flailing at his fate
& leaping off the roof
into explosions that remedy nothing
on and on

Use this, a black car swerves
& drives away, followed
by two motorcycles
dark silhouettes lit by the screaming
& the woman who cannot find her self
screaming at the intruding glare
on and on

Use this, dark men at a central control panel
twisting the dials that run the world
& an exploding motor fuming & sparking
as a plane spins down from the sky
on and on

Use this, our hero leaping into the convertible
a woman waiting on the seat
& off they drive
her hair twisting in the torrent
& when the assassin fires his rifle
the woman has lost her eyes
& she cannot see the fear any more
& the exploding motor
& the boxers pumping away at each other
circling the ring like big dogs
pounding & sparking
pounding & sparking
until the helicopter beats
on and on

Use this, the helicopter
& the fighter jet
& the battleship
& the lonesome gas station
on the lone highway
once sung about so
lonesomely
& Vulcan
& the torpedoes
& a gasoline pump
& waves upon waves
on and on

Use this, the foundry
at the heart of the earth
& the eternal flame
that must be fed
on and on

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