roadside attractions

falling in the gardens into massive silence
quietening the city's clamor and clang
fountains a public cleansing
while just beyond the shirtsleeved men
play at being fathers, at seeding young things,
we guard our children from the fall

shutting mouths in the garden
the relation between parts
what the professor calls, in a tsunami of synonyms,

Harmony
Symmetry
Proportion

All Elements of Beauty

but beauty bores me
its plastic face all one for one
perky and perfectly dead

what enchants, what siren calls
not - dash your vessel, you mad thing -
no! dash instead, notion of this self in your hand -
whole and apart - brush quickly the shards
gather and hold them

the fault lines reveal
what is real

no, beauty is a roadside attraction
rickety buses choose this spot to bust a tire
and careen narrowly onto the road sideburns
they require that each stand be examined closely,
til the elements break down too, and
drop to the earth from the perfect height
shatter
each piece liberated into wholeness

lights in the classroom flicker
and fail