an uncollectible invoice

i. woe to incur a debt

a physical generosity that is purely visual
is a scrappy way of giving blue cheer to the poor-
the strains on ribbed and purple silk
reveal a promise of transcendent exposure:
the shopping cart follows the minty grail,
inviolate chrome on the squeaky, sticky tiles.

collectors have an exact way of mounting:
clear hinges that mask the damage
with harmless opaque wings barely clipped,
sleek pins that map transgressions
with tiny orbs of red and blue,
that track, with oblique mirth,
the subtle smirks of the bon vivant,
the inner masks of conquest joy.

the split between the assumption of the real
and the dreams that masks reality.

ii. still we ask for service

when the flushed landscapers arrive
with their buckets of gaudy bronze
and seek to fix your patina fountain
with a box of fixtures beyond your call-
from a rusty dribble into drains unknown
to a complex address for a likely bill.

eyes closed, ears silent to the mad dream,
slipping into the sweet smell,
the murky scent of fresh clipped grass
and the bass hum of drums of expectation:
close your eyes and breathe
the first breath of verdant spring.

the unfolding of the swollen creases
begins in sacred earnest:
monarchs, moths, and pea-hens
with turquoise, shrieks, and gray.