twofer’s obbligato

‘the stupidest person in New York’ – Franzen

let’s go, no, far
too short to dance to, let us arise
and go now, perhaps, not as
evocative as I would prefer
to present myself to adoring
public, anonymous net, let
us go then you and I, obliged,
observe myself in performance:
let us arise and go there you and I.

there is no magic isle in sight, but
o, are not words like music?
if so, if so, then in them man is free.

I am one of those ‘customs
collectors who calls themselves
literary critics’ and more,
admitted freely, I am detritus
of your desires, dumpster diver,
lover of other mouths on fire,
spending the fag-ends of days
labelling pilfered laurels, shoring
fragments of my own short-
circuited shell of a body electric
that forgot how to sing.
o but are not words like music?
if so, if so, if so, if so