in its almost limitless bloating

where a cat may look at a king

 

window ice is melting off skeletal trees.

pale morning light, drinking tepid coffee

like the law against murder,

constructed as a mutual gift by those who compose it.

 

the life of an artist has never been filled with certainty.

 

with its wearisome killing-the-father imperatives,

 

the rights to which pharmaceutical companies acquired for a song.