the black dog

humping my leg

is only a figment

of a dull imagination I say

 

but I can’t get away from it

 

this whole setup is a tease

 

the drone of the TV

the buzz of the fluorescent lights above me

that flicker like frequencies gained and lost

in propagation and interfering...

 

Joe stands at the mouth of the volcano

and the sacrificial buffalo lo

 

--such is the cost of love in the time of tuberculosis