Have You Been Briefed?...

Have you been briefed?...

These streets beneath you

that secrete phantoms

keep you up on your toes...

You're hedged in a deserted park

with a question mark that screams...

...Up there on the tip of that

Civil War statue's rifled musket

that is pointed at a soldier undisclosed

you sense a whiff of deceit

that is pungent and perverse...

Have you been briefed,

or are you well versed

in the vocabulary

of cognizance?...

Night returns for feeding,

and you're back in the belly

of your home...

The shade of your existence

stains the creases of some chair,

and your astounded

for a few moments,

while a chime goes off somewhere,

as you'd consigned to oblivion

the weight of who you were,

so you rush outside

to vanish, and

be swallowed

by the black.

Have you been briefed?...

Your knowledge or lack of knowledge

shifts in and out like light...

May tomorrow be more bright!...

It's a game where rules are tossed.

Have you been briefed?...

...Or is the cost

factored in to your release?...

Behind your back

the closet creaks,

and your out the door again.

©

7/8/20

Bunny Villaire