Exhibit

What will become of our thoughts 
stopped in their tracks, suspended 
in syrupy heat or nailed to the floor 
in the deathlike cold? Will the soft 
bodies of snails slice open before they 
can melt; will the octopus breed fail to last 
the years required for their hatching and their 
mothers' arms cook into rubbery urns on the grill 
of the ocean bed? The future ticks its out-of-tune 
hours. Inside the cool marble vaults of mansions, 
a taxidermied history hangs on the walls. Pelts 
of animals tuft the floors and couches— bear 
and raccoon, gazelle and leopard; the marbled
brilliance of their omniscient eyes.