how you woo me with promises
transcending the seal of mortality
while death, certain and life, unsure
and the money, it defies gravity *
it flows up, tainted, delirious waterfall
rising ashes of burnt contracts—
* *
my policy is to twinkle *
right back at the stars * * *
* *
—until the summaries of *
benefits can wait no more *
and death accelerates like
a crumpled wad of direct mail
hurled into the gaping maw
of eternity (represented here
by a waste basket)
