Detective

Please assassinate
my conjecture
with its rehearsal
of criminal offense
wearing a tuxedo
presumably for
camouflage against
sensibility
prompting me to
go into the mode
of super sleuth
and see underneath
a watershed moment
with telephone poles
supporting a tent that
hides my tambourine.

From Top to Bottom

everything points due north

for some length of time

as far as you can see

in opposition to

your silhouette

painted over the edge

of moving horizons

but regardless

consult your atlas

help extinguish

ambiguity.

Memorabilia

forced to bench their
popularity
from previous decades
that overlap franchise
echoing some notion
of karaoke tracks
hungry for more songs
that annex suburbs
of recollection
like coveted real estate
the possibilities
kicking and screaming
grab-and-go secrets
in camouflage.

Diabolical

No matter what I do
this day has its own
one-take action shot
in a limousine with
a case of restless legs
stomping over my
glass of champagne while
shouting directions
to the driver through
a respirator to
keep his foot on the gas
as long as he can.

Segregated Eyes

on hiatus from
a sharper focus
to choreograph
the ricochet of magic
like a vinyl LP
spinning on a
vertical axis
ballads that belong
on a hillside of grass
rolling my body
into a smudge
of dirt and giggles
as if playing
inside a movie
subtitled with
the language of
obscurity.

Profile: Dane Karnick