Oracle (poem)

Oracle

Be ossuary of the boneyard

Be statuary of the arcade

Stealing tale-bearing, stop

Freeze in relief but soft

Catwalk over the under with stealthful feet

An icicling drip of sewer fat

Piles on the pit of the catacomb

That underpinning of the street

A caryatid hefts upon her head entablature

A spinning wheel rips the thoroughfare

Twinning of bitch and bully

The New Hermaphrodite

Polished trinkets may be carved therefrom

Or take the thing and mount it on a plinth

Be reliquary of wooden splinters

Be mortuary in alley of monuments

Where the famous bring their pilgrims

Paying rent

But other rents are sought

It very nearly is a plot

Were you asleep the day hope dressed itself

Then lie awhile yet

Delphiniums may grow on limey soil

Or pigs be fed a mix of bone and mash

Salt bacon for your voyage o’er the Styx

Ask her, when you pass that isle, what three-eyed Fate

predicts

Oracle

The Sovereignty

(2018, Stephanie Foster)