mystery – Page 3 – Kevin Trent Boswell

roads

once, the roads all lay
wide open before us,
turning in hundreds of
different directions,
taking people on magical journeys
to numberless destinations,
along magnificent trails
of gorgeous scenery

yes, there were always
a few dead ends, here and there, but
one could always
turn around

you could backtrack,
without experiencing
too much anxiety
over lost time

you’d happen upon
interesting choices,
unmarked intersections,
where there was
no signage
to help you navigate
your way

it was all
up to you

choose your own adventure,
twist-a-plot, flip a coin,
“eeny, meanie, miney, moe;
my mother told me this way…
and you… are… not… it”

and so, you’d set down a path,
with guesses, hopes, and fears,
but no real way of knowing
what was up ahead

it was all an exciting gamble

you might meet your death
but, you might find treasure,
fame, or perhaps,
unravel a mystery

“once there was a way
to get back homeward.”

see? Paul knew the deal.

but now,
the roads have all
narrowed

many of them,
if not most,
are blocked off |||||
completely impassible

storms have knocked down trees,
barring the way

some roads are blocked by protesters

many streets are just
too full of potholes

you can’t drive down them without
wrecking your vehicle

all the roads,
even the dirt ones,
are littered with toll booths,
every half a mile

insane fees extracted like teeth

the “protection money”
extortions of gangsters
looks like chump change
in comparison;
third-graders,
threatening to beat you up
for your milk money

half the available highways
have fallen too far into disrepair;
you can’t walk down them,
for fear of stepping in a hole,
breaking your ankle

of the remaining roads,
those still open and drivable,
the traffic is maddening

each thoroughfare
congested with vehicles,
all belching exhaust, and
piloted by madmen,
caught up in the throes of
full blown road rage

too many cars,
even though the travelers
on all of these roads
already know…

there’s nothing
at the end
of any of these highways;
nothing they’d actually want,
anyway

the obsession is no longer
“where are we going?”

it’s now
“how long can we keep driving,
before we run out of gas?”

we no longer worry about
how long it will take us
to get there, because
we know…

there’s nowhere to go

now, we just try to lose ourselves
in the experience of the drive,
desperately trying to forget
why we ever got into the vehicle
in the first place

we no longer
ask ourselves why we
even have a vehicle

such questions would only
cause us to think about
what is at the end of these
endless roundabouts, and
dirt paths, running through
fruitless orchards,
as far as the eye can see

asphalt and concrete
conveyor belts,
mindlessly herding us
through the turnstiles
and metal guide-rails
of urban slaughterhouses

what was so important?
that we had to build these
heartless machines?

pay all these tolls?

deal with all these
crazy people,
rudely plowing ahead
in all these ugly boxes?

and, more importantly,
if whatever it was…

isn’t even there,
anymore…

then,
why the hell
are we still
out here?

why are we
still on
these

tacky footpaths,
made of gauche steppingstones,
leading only to the madhouses

these dry, dead riverbeds
where five out of every ten tankers
are beached, or rudderless

three more of them are sinking

and one more has been pulled over,
by the police

only one out of every ten vessels
on our peculiar, asphalt rivers
is in good working condition,
and sailing on nicely

and, even that one
still lacks any sense of
where it’s headed

what fever is this,
that overtakes us,
compelling us to pursue these

godforsaken
freeways
of the damned

infinite trails of
tamed wilderness
that lead to
absolutely
nowhere

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it’s everywhere

the highways are littered with
broken bottles and empty people

or, was it broken people
and empty bottles?
I forget

there’s no room in here,
for all your wanting

paper airplanes
hang like gliders in the paused breezes

the earthworms break the surface
and bloom into roses

parting rain clouds
leave panels of stained glass behind,
just floating there,
for all to marvel
at their prismatic splendor

the parks, bus stops, trains,
the stores, and everywhere else,
they’re all overflowing with
discarded hypodermics
and an educated proletariat

or, was it hypodermic education
and a discarded proletariat?

clearly, it doesn’t matter,
which end of the pipe
you try to put the stopper on

there’s shit pumping
out of both ends,
nonstop

honestly…

honestly,
the sun is full of razors

and, even if it’s embarrassing,
it’s still the gospel truth…
I used to collect amnesias,
but now, I’ve given all that up;
gave the whole set back
to her majesty, the queen

and now, there’s so much knowledge,
it won’t even fit on the milk cartons

but, the juice
is much more slippery,
on the other side of town

if we’re really telling all,
there are only sharks
in the sea

each bite,
delicious sadness,
if you must know

let’s be totally clear
about all of this,

we’ve grown far too close
to one another
to stop lying to ourselves, now

the party favor wasn’t punished
for passing itself around,
but for passing itself off
as a thing all nailed down

let your hairless cats hang loose, and
slip into something nauseating

it ruins the texture of the pudding,
if you don’t bleed it out just right

so, dish out the starchy,
fat parts of the story,
so you can
pick up a new one,
down at your favorite food truck

give it all away
before midnight,
and the fifth
is free

not to burst any bubbles,
but the snowman
isn’t actually
made of lunar cheese

and, all that rain is fake;
it’s really nothing more
than water

the consigliere is only guessing,
it’s all wild speculations;
hopes that no one will notice,
that they’ll all just play along

but, the wandering minstrel
has lost his will to lie down

and, the troubadour
is sharpening his boots
for the dance

on the level, I will tell you
that motor isn’t running,
only because it’s
all out of rocks and gum balls

if it’s time to get real,
then we must
suck it up
and finally admit,
all the Kewpie dolls
are dying in the streets

the cobbler is high again;
treatment didn’t take

the shoes are made of peaches,
the boats all made of pearls
and, the pears are getting fresh
with the sailors in the saloon

apricot dandies dancing
with apple cider cinder blocks
in the twilight of everything
that never happened
thrice

rehearsing old headlines
for all the latest,
breaking news

the oysters
are all full of
shotgun pellets

all the nails are soggy,
and the slugs are too tall

every day is
carte blanche
ice cream, caviar, and
internal hemorrhaging

all the wild ponies
are stuffed with loose rainbows,
loose rainbows made of oil spills,
and sprinkles of leprosy

the attraction is purely chemical,
pure forever chemicals

today…

today was
full of
not dying

and a tentative
lucidity

the significance of this is
yet to be determined

it’s either a huge win,
or it is entirely meaningless,
or it’s the greatest loss
of the entire war,

or it’s wholly imaginary,
or it’s simply
yet to be
determined

all the bubbles
are busy blowing
away in the breezes

all the busy
are stuck,
spinning endlessly,
on the quick wash
unicycle

none of the etiquette
equates to
actual manners

no one’s manner equates

at least,
not to anything short of
mannerisms

the etiquette of mannequins

the ethics of plush toys;
plush toys on holiday,
plush toys that
can’t be bothered
with all your
insistence
on being
treated
as anything
more than
a plush toy

the horizon is full of paper cuts,
and old bandaids

all the drums squeak
when you hit them

each sip is dry,
and demands
yet another

if you’re walking into the furnace,
be sure to take a jacket with you,
so you don’t catch cold

every bottle you find
is full of three wishes,
someone else’s

none of the colors run;
they all stand their ground,
ready to fight you to the death

any of these knives
are sharp enough
to do the job,
just as long as
you don’t need to
cut anything

all these silk handkerchiefs
are perfectly safe;
not a single one of them
will have been harmed in the slightest,
after they’re done
strangling you

the factories are all
at maximum production,
cranking out empty picture frames
and invitations to dinner

the lists of new lists
seem to sit flush with eternity;
none of them complain,
and it takes a hot minute
to become accustomed
to the silence

every pile of shit
that you see here, on the ground,
they all taste like
chocolate and peanut butter;
trust me

this machine gun
is so much more
convenient
than air conditioning

if we’re speaking candidly,
then, you always
preferred hanging
your laundry
out to dry

there are no more puppies
but, we’re all stocked up on
ska music, instant polyps, and
disposable consciences

all the mountains shatter
when you step on them…
if we’re being totally honest

the days, all ripped up,
for tourniquet rags

the hours, shattering into dust,
if you so much as
glance at them sideways

each of these
marvelous things,
all made possible
by your presence

now, the hounds
will go without their supper,
and the king’s innards
will spill out at his feet,
there, on the palace floor

and all the poor children will cry,
because none of the salads
will ever be scrambled again

and the tumbleweeds
will all starve,
for want of the suffocation
you so graciously
bestowed upon them,
in the days gone by

none of the little assassins
will get Christmas cards this year,
despite having been such
good girls and boys

the coffee is full of conspiracy,
and the fish all taste like marshmallows

the sleet sings sweet lullabies,
in which there are no names

just between you and me,
and this scarecrow, here…

as long as we’re
shooting straight…

it’s terribly worrying
to think that
none of the boils will be
allowed to fester
and ripen in time
for the harvest

because you
will not be here
to feed them

it is tragic,
how much you will
be missed

the traffic
moves right along,
screaming its miseries
into the night

bullet holes

a crisp vertigo
has bitch-slapped me
right out of my seat,
and taken my place
at the table

how is it that one can be
gun-shy and trigger-happy,
at the same time?

these lesser mysteries
fall pale and sickly,
into the dim, sour heat
of winter’s chamberpot

fasten a few severed limbs
to your Christmas wreath,
and sing that classic
advertising jingle once more;
it does so warm the hearts of the masses

put a few coppers
into the wooden collection box
to help the neighborhood children
raise enough funds to
burn down the old cathedral, and
replace it with a house of mirrors

it’s a good cause

or, at least, it’s one that they’ll
never write songs about,
and hence, we’ll never have to
listen to them singing

you scrunch up your brow
and wonder, with a new brand of vexation,
what is this peculiar dip
you’ve been invited to
plunge your nacho poker chips into?

it is gray with fear,
it cringes and recoils
when you move towards it

and, what’s more,
it reeks of both vinegar
and victory

a blind man sidles up next to you
and tugs at your coat sleeve, saying
“I’ve seen this movie. Trust me,
you won’t like it, either.”

the cat has dragged home, and
ceremonially draped, a hippopotamus
across your threshold

it is more than a little incensed
that you show no appreciation
for its generosity

fickle creatures,
all of us

more inscrutable nightmares,
injected straight into the jugular

night wipes the sweat from its brow,
takes another shot of whiskey,
and motions disapprovingly
toward the calendar on the wall

the constable slurs an order
to the lieutenant on duty,
who promptly douses the wall with gasoline,
and sets the calendar ablaze

before exiting, he salutes, and
cheerfully says, “No worries, sir.
We’ll have a new one nailed up
in time for the New Year’s festivities.”

all the stops have been ripped out
from the church organ

now, it will do little more than blow bubbles,
and coo sinister, atonal choruses
of “Hail to the Chief,”
“Ring Around the Rosie,”
and “Tiptoe Through the Tulips”

“Ashes, ashes…”

we are always
falling down

it has been said that
there are worse things
than you

still, it is truly
impossible to know,
and difficult to imagine,
where such monsters
could possibly
exist

powder dogs

powder dogs,
inching rhythmically toward
the frenzied maelstrom

ill-advised foam trousers,
impudent stompers,
gnashing after the vortex

pink-toothed sweater demons,
toasting indolence
by the infernal mantelpiece,
roasting chestnuts
in the red hot mantle
of infamy and infancy

all about those clawless,
flat, green pry-bars

window un-zippers;
instant view makers,
just add saliva

chocolate-melters,
fondue honey pots
in the deserted catacombs
of the future

it’s looking more and more
like it’s going to be
a very good year, boys

then again,
maybe

not so much

Chaos Comes Apart:

Out On The Killing Floor:

Time for Nothing:

usurper

fractional, piecemeal

tattered royal robes
of a child sovereign

dancing monkey courtiers
in dance floor flights of fancy

the throne,
a perpetual game of
“duck, duck, goose”

title of monarchy
changes as swiftly
as the second hand
of the reviled and feared
grandfather clock;
always chiming
on the unsuspecting head
of what might well be
the last hour

a masquerade waltz
parades of ever-changing partners
turnstiles at each end
of the ballroom

cardboard cutouts holding hands

ladles of wine,
party favors strewn about the floors,
a punchbowl full of suite keys

the night never ends,
but the sun is always rising;
it’s busy chasing ghosts,
the ephemeral fears
of revelation,

a glass onion caricature
of something referred to as
plainly obvious

the hand strikes midnight,
and midnight slashes its throat,
severing its artery,
just as the reveal
portion of the soirée
climaxes in a
feeding frenzy

the czar must feed
its myriad children,
with their thousand faces,
and their insatiable armada
of ten thousand mouths,
and their infinite rows
of sharpened teeth

a hydra-headed babe,
sprawling out of
a catacomb of cribs

all of the palace,
and all of its occupants,
are laid upon the banquet table,
or simply devoured whole,
right where they stand

the crown smiles upon itself,
having satisfied the appetites
of its innumerable infant rouges,
the task is announced as completed,
finis, coup de grâce,
“Tetelestai… it is finished.”

everyone walks away,
down the grand hallways,
elaborately ornamented,
hiding beneath the curved eaves

much hustling and bustling,
out through the facades

mad, naked revelers,
drunkenly climbing
the spires and bannisters,
and scrambling up the entablatures

some leaping desperately
from the nearest fenestrations

all are in the most superb hurry,
since the next affair
begins in but a moment

and each attendee
does so desire
to make their
grand entrance

each attendee does
desire so

the mandatory attendance
of these bacchanalias
is everything,
all that is
known

to be seen
is to exist

to be missed
is to be forgotten

to be forgotten
is to be cast
into the outer
darkness
of oblivion

dance with
whoever you like,
but dance

for to stop the twirling play
of flirtation and primping,
to cease the endless arabesque
of changing hands,
and switching costumes,
swooning and sweeping
across the dance floor

is to find oneself
face to face
with the mirror

and that,
is where
the death
of childhood
hides,

waiting
for any one of the
throngs of delirious dancers
to tire out, and pause
in quiet contemplation

so, that death may
reach out
and throttle them
slowly with a heavy chain
of opprobrium,
the sight of their
unexceptional, mundane
reflections

keep twirling,
never cease smiling,
change your masks regularly,
slip out of your wardrobe,
and don a new costume,
at least once, during each polonaise
or allegro sonata

spin, laugh, tell jokes,
drink, tell lies, twirl,
flirt, giggle and be merry,
but do not ever, ever…
stop

and above all,
stay far
away
from the
mirrors

death
waits for you,
there,
in the
mirrors