for a while
we believed in the magic of words

poetry was evaporating
everywhere
clouding consciousness' eyeglasses

then we believed in the power of noise
to block
unwanted intrusions
into a fixed hallucination

it was thought that when pain is missing
life becomes a closed circuit

[still
only time watching the watchers]

all this until
a woman was saved
by a kidney transplant
a kidney taken from a pig
named (for obscure reasons)
the-power-of-pork