Thomas Fink & Tom Beckett
Nine Dali Études
THE BURNING GIRAFFE
Open drawers
ladder down bare torso and
leg.
What was
inside?
Capacity?
Nothing peeking
out.
Drawers unable
to be closed.
The giraffe forgets
its burning back
    to stare out at
    the open.
What stakes
the third figure's
skull, neck,
back?
A sonnet
of penises?
The front
woman's drawers
are dreamers’
in the way
of answers.
METAMORPHOSIS OF NARCISSUS
Double egg balance—
one vegetal
in grip
of reflection.
Violent birthing to follow?
Eggs
with unseen eyes?
Blossoming head
takes a knee
over water.
(The crime of
self-regard.)
THE SPECTRE OF SEX APPEAL
On a beach
the Little Boy
in a Sailor's Suit
before an immense
but partial object
(me too).
Wood? Iron? Untempered
steel? Compromised
flesh?
The material condition
of hallucinations
is various.
Two moneybags pointing above
where the head
would be
ersatz breasts
(counterfeits).
NAPOLEON'S NOSE
Bruised sky
receding behind desert.
She fished
a stone face
out of its wooden
niche, but not
the ghost
remainder.
The emperor
has no closure.
THE LUGUBRIOUS GAME
In nightmares
things almost rhyme.
Airborne hats
spurn human perches.
Her finger penetrates
the vagina
on top of her head.
He squeezes
a handful
of raw meat
and soils his pants.
Above him, an
arthritic hand
reaches toward
billowing monstrosity.
SLEEP
Reality's
a series
of crutches
upon which
Sleep depends.
The muscular brow
needs the most
support. Closest
to thought.
Various staples.
What fastens
dreamthought?
An ear,
thought's closet door,
draped
with a cloak.
ILLUMINED PLEASURE
Frames within
a frame.
Which riders will
collide? Which
will swerve in
time?
Will bloated patriarch's
smile fit
today's frame?
Will satyr
and prey
drown together
in the half-shell?
Time
for peepshow
target practice.
THE WEANING OF FURNITURE-NUTRITION
Sand and sea
framed by
her.
Is she window
or door?
Open,
always.
THE PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY
Sun outside time
frame melt.
Ti-i-i-i time's on
the slide
(yes it is),
on the fence.
On the mend?
Beached indeterminacy.
Thomas Fink
Tom Beckett
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Nine Dali Études
THE BURNING GIRAFFE
Open drawers
ladder down bare torso and
leg.
What was
inside?
Capacity?
Nothing peeking
out.
Drawers unable
to be closed.
The giraffe forgets
its burning back
    to stare out at
    the open.
What stakes
the third figure's
skull, neck,
back?
A sonnet
of penises?
The front
woman's drawers
are dreamers’
in the way
of answers.
METAMORPHOSIS OF NARCISSUS
Double egg balance—
one vegetal
in grip
of reflection.
Violent birthing to follow?
Eggs
with unseen eyes?
Blossoming head
takes a knee
over water.
(The crime of
self-regard.)
THE SPECTRE OF SEX APPEAL
On a beach
the Little Boy
in a Sailor's Suit
before an immense
but partial object
(me too).
Wood? Iron? Untempered
steel? Compromised
flesh?
The material condition
of hallucinations
is various.
Two moneybags pointing above
where the head
would be
ersatz breasts
(counterfeits).
NAPOLEON'S NOSE
Bruised sky
receding behind desert.
She fished
a stone face
out of its wooden
niche, but not
the ghost
remainder.
The emperor
has no closure.
THE LUGUBRIOUS GAME
In nightmares
things almost rhyme.
Airborne hats
spurn human perches.
Her finger penetrates
the vagina
on top of her head.
He squeezes
a handful
of raw meat
and soils his pants.
Above him, an
arthritic hand
reaches toward
billowing monstrosity.
SLEEP
Reality's
a series
of crutches
upon which
Sleep depends.
The muscular brow
needs the most
support. Closest
to thought.
Various staples.
What fastens
dreamthought?
An ear,
thought's closet door,
draped
with a cloak.
ILLUMINED PLEASURE
Frames within
a frame.
Which riders will
collide? Which
will swerve in
time?
Will bloated patriarch's
smile fit
today's frame?
Will satyr
and prey
drown together
in the half-shell?
Time
for peepshow
target practice.
THE WEANING OF FURNITURE-NUTRITION
Sand and sea
framed by
her.
Is she window
or door?
Open,
always.
THE PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY
Sun outside time
frame melt.
Ti-i-i-i time's on
the slide
(yes it is),
on the fence.
On the mend?
Beached indeterminacy.
Thomas Fink
Tom Beckett