How can I define this Real
of language in words? Signs
betray its unsayable being
like a hoax. Has no authenticity

cheated by fakeness; condemns
all things to fantasy. How can I

praise this enemy
of appreciation? When it’s around

I’m disoriented, terrified
like a newborn. Has no quantity

beyond its lack; know it
by its non-being, risk its abdication

from your ideals by naming it
as a visible thing. Look and see

the home to the Statue of Liberty
is the empire of prisons, correctional

hellholes. How can you crave this
termination of desire? Beautiful

lover is a tundra if it’s the eternal
-ly absent flame. It’s understandable

as an ineffable terror, State
of Nature that deracinates words

like ‘nature’, ‘chaos’, ‘annihilation’.
It’s like nothing else. It’s the absolute nothing

at the core of our stifling things
’ composition. Equality, fraternity

need their triplet. I need it
to tease, evade me; like death

to define life, give it meaning.