10-27-2010, 09:34 PM
Phallic barbershop pole,
standing like a night watchman
between the sea and green hillsides,
I have given you a name, a face,
the leathery stubble which nurses adore,
blue boiler suit worn like a red mark
upon the forehead,
and in place of the bulb blinking
on and off, yellow spotlight
across the grim stage, his voice,
that mangle, broken radio,
which waits for silence and then screeches
a tune. No ships are safe in his presence.
standing like a night watchman
between the sea and green hillsides,
I have given you a name, a face,
the leathery stubble which nurses adore,
blue boiler suit worn like a red mark
upon the forehead,
and in place of the bulb blinking
on and off, yellow spotlight
across the grim stage, his voice,
that mangle, broken radio,
which waits for silence and then screeches
a tune. No ships are safe in his presence.
"We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us; we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges." - Gene Wolfe