EXTRA AND IN UNION: AN AMERICAN ALBUM FEBRUARY-MARCH 2006 Poem by Alan Halsey

‘Extra and in union.
Not and seen nearly.'
Gertrude Stein
Egyptian ghost cars made in Japan. One hieroglyphic ace and a club of flagpoles. As for me I am inside Exhibit A.

The first doll was black and naked. The second was peering at the third who was dressed in pink and had lost her left arm. That February day could have been the same as a Saturday in June or October.

The frame might be fuzzy but the border must either be crossed, filled in or fitted into or out. Graffiti shows that only details count when conventions abound. Stains and chips in the paintwork must be distinguished from longterm erosion.

Terror can be recognised by definite articles. Keeping memories safe turns mountains dark so that only icebound rivers remain visible. As anything scanned doubly as a port or a coast shows its grain or other trace: grain or granite leaving you or leaving you or us.

Torsos indistinctly map. If everybody were to read everybody what if anything would happen? The wooden whale leapt across the harbour and everything went blue.

Beware the eye which stalks the beholder. Reverse hybrid entities take nothing lightly. Lightly itself will likely not take easily lightly.

Pro[em]blematic.

A hours. I.e. Today is Monday. And the hearts say: the heart.