Very Bad Archive
The Dust Cycle--after Bishop
Lewis Roberts
the art of losing isn’t hard to master
most of living itself happens in particulate matter
keys phone numbers or the construction
of whatever all the noise has been about across the alley
the small talk of it with the folks
who live down stairs
it’s one way to get to know
the neighbors who claim to see the beauty
in how things are assembled from small pieces
everyone on our block notices every time
four walls and a new row of windows is born
each evening from their window they keep tabs
on the masons marking
the moments before and after each brick
with a rhythmic swipe of the trowel
it’s intricate as icing
a wedding cake on tiers
of scaffolding
dust dies eventually as dust
the art of losing
is the cremation the purchase of an ornate urn
to take a friend to a favorite place
to scatter like the aunt
of the folks downstairs
by now we’re used to getting stuck
in the eyes
and noses of each other
avoiding politics and religion
or personal questions
makes pleasant neighborly conversing possible
on this we apparently agreed
none need speak it outright each evening driving
or walking in from day jobs
we look over the site for conversation starters
the plastic outhouses the men use
to mark the time the dust
Lewis Roberts has published since joining on 30/11/99. Read more of Lewis's terrible poetry at the anthology. Here are three of Lewis's latest works: