From Mantis 5

A A R O N M C C O L L O U G H

PRISONER'S WREATH #3

As storm drains cull / collect the leafy curb

Curb the horse the dog the song the mountain

Mountain of my youth what can you absorb . . .

Absorb the string the calculus rhythm

Arrhythmias of stream leave gritty wash

And wash the bed and empty set the pail

Pale proportion close cinder block: I'm crushed

Crushed on these phenomena of the light

Things swimming in light we dust motes of style

Style us in curbs outside waters inside

PRISONER'S WREATH #5

To tell instead it is a foreign song

Before the interstate we must reform

Reform me by several means and gray ways

Ways in and out I have this government

Government of fouls and burning bitters

I bite a hole in orange to open

Reform the us a little but here first

This room I've prepared I can't make it out

Out of dirt from dust from the patient tense

Penitent stretched in compass of a pale