Alicia Ostriker – Ⅳ

Drone 

 

 

 

 

Get a move on

its says

every year,

 

day, hour, minute

keep going, keep up

the good work, go on with

 

your task, it

never stops reminding me

how badly I am doing it

 

~

 

I have to straighten out

my love life first

get that on an even keel

 

I say, but it says

don’t fool yourself

love lives never get straightened out

 

they are by nature crooked

get back to work

you don’t have forever.

 

Live to you from the hypothalamus

here it comes again

old drone

 

at the base of my skull

says listen to me woman

you are nothing

 

but dust

and the wounded world

is still in your hands

 

~

 

In the bedroom

soft skin and old regret

continue their melodious duet

 

the stew in the oven

is singing its please eat me song

the television is painting its faced with human blood

 

the drone repeats get on with it

gather grief like straw

spin it into something like gold