a last pair of books
one contains the Secret of All Weapons
the other contains the Secret of All Gold
read ‘em diligently
yet never get to the end of either one
pains in the head
hard to stand for too long
can’t keep food down
the pair demand you twist and prostrate and double back and fold and rock yourself
that you must worship
even as you read
guts all twisted up
bugs and spiders that eat bugs get comfortable all over me, since I spend years at a stretch trying to get to the end of all secrets
soon enough
spies of all nations
spies of all religions
spies of all corporations
slip in among the bugs and spiders
and the cockroaches, too
oh Christ and Crackers
the cockroaches, too
I direct my wars and entrepreneurial hustles at a distance
I’m the Apex Work From Home Motherfucker
still no end to the secrets of the pair
spiders, for whatever reason, would bite my eyes
not all the time
but often enough
I think they were encouraged to do this by the human spies
but soon enough
I learned a great secret
of Weapons or of Gold
I don’t remember
but I used this secret
to train my eye jellies
to eat the spiders
and I soon enough extended this great technique to the opening of terrible mouths all over my body
so, I ate all of the bugs and spiders and cockroaches and spies
and still I failed to exhaust the secrets of the pair
The Book of Weapons
The Book of Golds
even as the World grew grim and cratered by my avarice
even as my mouths ate my body
ate themselves
‘til only one maw survived
leaving me as a mouth
and a mouth’s hunger
but right at the end
I developed telekinesis
which allowed me to grab cigarettes and lighters from the local convenience store
I vaguely recalled my life prior to pursuing the innermost secrets of Weapons and Gold
I worked in an office
Indoors
Air conditioned
but I resented it
every conversation with my co-workers
just noise mouthing spaces between smoke breaks
now,
there will be no end to my seeking after the secrets of Weapons and Gold
all superfluous chatter has ended
for now is the Age of the Eternal Smoke Break
