Bas Relief

The thief is an importunate intruder
who so baffles with his omnipresence

that you cannot know he’s there –
except, perhaps, as some slight

stultifying quality of air – which in a dream
becomes a slowly clotting cream to which

you find yourself adhering inextricably –
until you’re partly wall: until you are a tall

bland simulacrum of a soul: a bas-relief:
thick cream-concrete – chest, thighs, face

a fleeting semblance of dimensionality:
shoulders, butt and heels as flat as rock.

The thief won’t cease until he has effected
an entire lack. Ah, but: readiness is all: relax.

Dream of carving out the creature,
front and back, pick and axe: free him into

an autonomy. Take out everything
that was within. Wake up and begin.

.