Poem : Order in the Court

In this collectable video I read a poem in the background, synchronized to images generated by AI from each line of the poem. The poem itself was generated by my brain. 🙂

Order in the Court

tap, tap, tap
they take my
cloak and dagger
at the door
so i can enter
in the clear.

there are many here
silent
save the cold cubes
clinking
and the waiters
growing old

and their drinking
calculations in
their orbits
ever shrinking
in their quest
to find the alpha
put to rest.

growing younger
they approach
and their gravity
increases.

answers
are expected
yet i cannot
stand corrected
in the pooling
of their frozen
pools
staring, staring

sweating now.
who will follow first?
who will
spring a leak?

i cannot hold.
i burst :
"CHICK-A-DEE-DEE-DEE-DEE-DEE-DEE-DEE-DEE-DEE-DEE-DEE-DEE-DEE!"
all eyes now
open wider, wider
sockets sinking

save one
blinking out
her morse code :

"your words. too many ice picks."

i look down
my cold, clammy hands.
no blood there.

now others
blinking
judgment :
"you are no longer wanted
you are free to go."

i am ushered out
and i wonder
if the gathering
has ended.

The poem will appear in my book Mindspillage.

Some Thoughts :

1. All communication among people in the poem occurs via coded messages conveyed via the eyes, rather than the mouth, except by the person who bursts out in a panic.

2. The chickadee is a small bird with black, white, and grey plumage. Its name derives from the sound that it makes. Scientists have shown that the length of the chickadee's warning call is proportional to the perceived severity of the danger with which it is confronted.

3. Similarly, the word 'chatter' has an echoic etymology. The original meaning of the word is "a run of quick, shrill sounds." By 1995 the word could also signify overheard electronic or radio communication among terrorists.

4. The action in the poem occurs at a fancy dress ball while engaging in small talk; or, in a courtroom. Take your pick.