Effluvium Poem by Ivan Donn Carswell

you proclaim doggedly it isn’t a blank
page only space undefined in potential
– but we’re on the way to filling it

preferred ciphers need firm consideration
hence window-dressed anxiety which you
see as procrastination

not that we avoid writing – see,
there are tangible words echoed here
that hint at even greater things

like a case of lèse majesté – flirting in
the face of regal dignity lends less to
true treason than insouciant disgrace

effluvium, brief and out of place in words
expressed casually means more of what
I dream than what I sought to say
©20 November 2009, I. D. Carswell