This appears in a pre-2010 issue
of Down in the Dirt magazine.
Saddle-stitched issues are no longer
printed, but you can requesting it
“re-released” through amazon sale
as a 6" x 9" ISBN# book! Email us for re-release to order.
Inverted Nothing (Nothing Backwards Is Almost The Same)
Benjamin Giddings
eyelashes are prison bars
contentment in a cell
for the only thing beyond
is a cube of white
six walls of blinding light
or the flat world
of the blank page
the area of potential travel
already lined off
with flashing police tape
colored cherry and blueberry
an enemy triclops, skin painted
to resemble cement blocks
for a ritual of confrontation
behind the eyelids of the self
arms half bent and pushing
back leans forward
and feet slide backward
dirt and sand gather
behind the heels
at least take something with it
in the gradual slip
of the nothingness
of a contented self
locked in a cell
bars are eyelashes
coarse and shining
from the blinding light
beyond them
coming from the distance
somewhere along
the freedom of the horizon
