THE GHAZAL ABOUT _____
this ain’t a poem, but a treatise about ________
a manifesto for the people to shout ________
the pot calling the kettle out for boiling over
a plot with thickening agents roiling ________
apocalypses with ellipses are called normal
profit-driven rocket-living, it’s all ________
handbaskets improperly stowed, which means closure
mobile screens, immobile dreams, it screams ________
hope used to be a thing with feathers immortal
till bullets got to flocking together to sing ________
bodies electric, buzzed and never sober
drunk off light sabers from soldiers of ________
no escape doors or hatches or space portals
just an unjust world, full of scraps to face ________
we draw blanks, a cure for overexposure
this ain’t a poem, but full disclosure ________
—from Rattle #84, Summer 2024
Tribute to the Ghazal
__________
Russell Nichols: “I’m drawn to ghazals for the repetition. The rhythm, tradition, and repetition.”
