Desolation Point

If the wind shifts the swell hollows out if you’re
tuned that way if morning climbs from
The Iliad into The Odyssey if those wings were
carved alabaster & crumbling surf
if every gateway drug lived up to its name

Even if you never knew the silk-driven close-out
if there were places you could hide if time could be
unwound if you knew the steps

but if the deluge & personal desires flew commercial
on plum colored tattoo mists in sharkskin tuxedos
if gestures like crime uproot the purpose if iridescent
fingernails pointed the way the sex & content of regional
failure if you wanted that if it could translate into
an overwhelming silence as if it was all that I could give you