Susan Lewis

& Yet More

Nor aught storied

though intrepid

you pad through mud,

surprised, still,

by consequences.

Ever quaintly analog,

if not bimodal.

Why not run

(in your head)

the tape before

the gun?

& wonder at its bolting,

its savor,

its salvaged & oft-reflected

tarnish.

Then sell us,

until the deal

is sealed:

no story

‘til there is.

2.

Once enough

or else at times—

sub silentio &

sub rosa, if not

nunc pro tunc.

Res ipsa (speak for me).

Psych (out).

The timbre of her voice

(a wavelength that defines you)

the terror of its loss,

the grating fact of it.

None of it novel,

every bit strange.

You & not you,

your desire & your

embedded thorn.