ALL EVIL (IN HOPES OF GOOD)
Christopher Stolle
slices
of bread cut
by bloody knives
that Carrie once held.
dust balls
rolling upon the floor
get the silver-handled broom
and work like Cinderella.
oh, book of fairy tales
haven't I seen the wizard
or the open brandy bottle
and she wore
purple stockings.
free will
conscience of a mad-man
where suicide is a challenge
met by the arrow of Robin Hood.
murder
running through cemeteries
under full moons of cloudy scenes
in the essence of Sherlock Holmes.
oh, book of folk tales
haven't I seen the witch
or the shot of gin
and she wore
blue stockings.
description
of some inarticulate object
well beyond imagination
as Edgar Allan Poe writes it.
religious dogma
unscripted scripture of dead seas
where unholy lands are uninhibited
and only Jesus suffers.
oh, book of fairy tales
haven't I seen the wizard
or the open brandy bottle
and she wore
purple stockings . . .
with a needle in her arm
and a hundred dollars in her purse.