Ivy white as iv(or)y the

Leachianus Giant collects

his echo from the undisputed

king of men, O Susanna won’t you

survey a species of shortbread

turning to face the Enso’s enzymed

curve—remember you must bow,

she said, before licking

the scalloped rays (off/on)

the lynch pin under David’s

juniper berry jam

on toast spears for pastlife accuracy

Then it’s off to sporks

and plastic saber

key-rattling mop ’n glow

observatory ordinance

logged among carnivorous figs (flies)

figments gone flat

The monastery of Mr. J’s

produce aisle English cucumber

skin-laden closet

shaves kanji from his

thirsty tattoo, the do unto

others demonstrance, the do nothing but

consent (a/e/i = eye) sweep certain

halfway houses that crumble when

a drop of avidia—protoplasmic

fruit shade adds an Ow, lay off!

That was a warning

from a spotted dune-dwelling spider

don’t mind the animation

wombat hangover

slip and slide runway vine

(digitalis vellum)

80s pop-up disaster planned

avoidance of emergency exit

red as morning-after powerpoint

make-nice hysterectomy: Zebra, the same

“Z” as in Zyprexa (electrocution happens

HERE

David hid behind

Mona, canary queen

rushed through radiology

with Leachianus (Leo for short) under her skirt

hiked high as her fishnets: squiggly bracelet handsewn

etch-a-pad smile (this time) with teeth to let them

loose (giraffes first, sir—Mr. J., you’re next)

LIFERAFT ORDER

and then the girl at Mezzaluna

from the closet—wife—stumbles into delusory

bronchial spasm, sunlight—a common mammalian

lung affect, ischemic condition along with merrily

merrily MERRILY

Vital signs bristling

and League of Topeka Ivies setting up to cross-examine

her ambivalence at the request of Human and Primate Resources

judging by the scene from their internal memo: water’s constitution

tracking a wrinkled, dilated pupil—follow the landing gear

marsupial next of kin

unfolds its penlight across the clipboard’s checkboxes

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Scott Glassman is the author of the chapbooks Exertions (Cy Gist Press, 2006) and Identity Crisis (Dusie, 2006). His poems have recently appeared in Iowa Review, Marginalia, Sentence, Sugar Mule, and others. He also co-curates the INVERSE Reading Series in Philadelphia.