I am not making these things up. The world truly is weirder and more dogeared than we care to remember


from the custom official's desk

waybills here and form F451 there
the piles sliding slightly
out of alignment with the true and narrow

sepia traces of the coffee commando ghouls
don't feed them after midnight
and wrap them safely in tarpaulins

muffled past the pool of reading lamplight
the clong and screeching of shipping containers
square forms pushed into their tetris slots

a bite from a cinnamon doughnut, circle broken
they are shipping spices now
and dried fish from the desert valleys

by Roman taxation peppar panthers and eunuchs
spice up some other people's lives
all neatly printed in block letters

the eternal lives of Egyptians used up
like sea gull guano and compacted dinosaurs
a boost for luxury produce and high yields

all boxed compressed and squared away
and it's not your fault is it?
you just arranged the transportation





Poetry by Katarina Wikholm
Read 746 times
Written on 2016-09-18 at 11:00

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Lawrence Beck The PoetBay support member heart!
Wonderful! I'm sneezing from the dust in the office, and groaning at the thought of hauling what has arrived through my Target store.
2016-09-20


josephus The PoetBay support member heart!
Interesting play on the word "Customs" Katerina! I enjoyed reading this immensely.
2016-09-18


Katarina Wikholm
as for identification, the ghoul (couldn't very well write gremlin or mogwai) is there to remind you that even the softest creatures may be tarnished, transformed to the point of making excuses. (The poem may need some reassbly )
2016-09-18


one trick pony The PoetBay support member heart!
i found this to be a wonderful commentary on culture, society, mores, donuts, and eunuchs. all good. or, mostly good. thank you for explaining the references to me.

why i should identify with the round hole, square-printing ghoul instead of the square-pegged import-export entity, i don't know. a minion by nature i suppose.
2016-09-18