absolute zero

cool me down to absolute zero
hell is winter
angels are empty forms in the radioactive snow
the wind is a scalpel for purity
inside the house the devil rots
the growth of bacteria
becomes frantic in the sweaty joints
the mouth teems with unanswered questions
and Allah imagines us as a necessary
anomaly

but, on to paraguay:
each dotted line is your signature bearing
the weight of your betrayal, or your surrender
(these qualities equal for this argument)
jetstream is the flood,
following down old gilgamesh's ghost

but, I am gilgamesh
no matter your denials
and this life is 35 millimeter plastic film
melting into shapes and freezing this
for another's memory
(you will all remember what you want, anyway)
cool me down
to absolute zero

if you get me cold enough
you can keep me forever


A statement about my relationship with literature, friends and lovers in the 1970s. It is remarkable that there is an absolute bottom point for temperature, mathematically speaking. Not so for the top.