BURNING ROPES

we burned ropes

to make the suicide knots

remind us of

the  family barbecues.

just as soon

hang a snake

and call it art

or bring it to the altar

and call it the

pentecost.

strange tongues

rattled by boredom:

how to make the

unutterable

palletable?

vast horizons

belong

behind the eyes

not wizened

nor brazen.

-jim hill (6-26-09)