[John Riley]

Revision

Mannequins

The men arrived with sturdy chests, the women
with hard breasts, both free of groin,
collected together like well-trained sophisticates
full of talk, secretly longing for sleep,
giving one another the sly eye,
waiting to be fed the illusion
of the glow of life, although now
they have no things to remember,
no fleeting thoughts of things not seen.
They stand, like sneaks, against a wall,
some with hands lifted like the charmers of their day
tilting a cigarette, sighting enchantment.
How like our nights their nights are!
Without the lift of an ending light.


***


Mannequins

These mannequins that arrived tonight,
sturdy chests, the women with hard breasts,
the men free of groin, collected together
like well-trained sophisticates full of talk,
secretly longing for sleep, giving one
another the sly eye, waiting to be fed
the illusion of the glow of life, although now
they have no things to remember, no fleeting
thoughts of things not seen.
They stand, the sneaks, against a wall,
some with hands lifted like charmers of their day
tilting a cigarette, sighting enchantment.
How like our nights their nights are!
Without the lift of an ending light!