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An electronic scream on the wire:

"I am Odysseus, come thrice on a black horse
To this black house with its bone dry cellar-"

Jackboots concealed by dark blue scrubs,
They knock thrice
To the rhythm of the war drums.

"On horseback we come as martyrs to Wetback Hill,
To the waters, to the market square.
Our robes white lilies in a lilac sun,
With dirt wedged between our toes.

"And on they come, clothed in the radiance of the sun.
Around the bend comes the wedding party, red and red and read to by streetlight,
Coming once around to scorn at the morning.

"His dumb smile as he pulls up a zipper,
And snaps on suspenders.
A brackish haze meanders past
As his lion's grasp turns once to black.

"Her indolence and impotence
Walk down the aisle
Hand in hand in arm in strung out,
Wrung out arm.
Lips parted in turn to kiss,
To scream, to trill
On these ornate ornamentations
Of name and rank,

"Lips parted in turn to speak,
Give way only to cool air and coffee breath."

With the honking of geese
In a monotone voice,
We knock thrice
To the rhythm of the war drums.

"Peering out from the streetcar from the saddle,
The stirrups, breath coming and going at the sound of the bells. One.

"Two. He cranes his neck to see, but he is already
Bent. Knock kneed and tounge tied."

A thin white line flutters in the wind,
Cheap plastic and cigarette smoke outside a window,
As an orderly paces in time to the clock.

Tick. Tock. Drip. Drop.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Drip.

"All while wet pavement gives pause for tempered glass.
The bridegroom smirks in amazement, as around the bend
Upon a black horse, the wedding party arrives. The procession is followed by a light rain."

A pale white line shudders in the limelight,
Rushed voices and hushed cries from those in lounge chairs,
As an orderly knocks thrice
To the rhythm of the war drums.

"In silence, they watched the pair
Of sunkissed scarlet lovers ride out to shore."

In cold silence, day gives way
To cold starlight.
White jackets and penny loafers go arm in arm, room to room,
Searching for signs of life
In cold eyes,
On red lips.

"With wide eyes and white thighs,
We echo sighs in moonlight."

As with shuttered eyes and white lines,
With fuzzy headlights, we breathe tonight.

"I am Odysseus, come on a pale horse."

He was oblivious, saddled on a pale horse.