The Concept of Travel

the concept of a brick breathing
feet missing last year’s steps
dead people talk among dead buildings
the voices between them fading like memory into the facade

so he fell face up on a barroom floor
which one is this?     voice of the bartender
he’s out cold but he’s smiling     which century
did he fall from this time?

consider the virgin mary
pink in complexion no longer yellow or blood blue
she holds the strange antennaed infant to her chest
the gulps of alien suckling     noise bouncing off the walls
think i died once     fell     cracked my head
the minister said i was smiling    head on the bricks    on the clouds

from Oedipus' First Lover (2009)