Dissolving the masquerade by ALbert Russo (sight word readers .txt) 📖

DISSOLVING THE MASQUERADE
a poem by Albert Russo


for some mysterious reason,
in the middle of the pedestrian square,
they felt their clothes loosen and fray
like dandelions caught by a storm
and, averting each other's eyes
as that mute and invisible alien
stripped them to the skin,
they suddenly stopped running about

in the middle of the square
never had there been such a sight
hands twirling like mad dervishes
hands that spun more swiftly
than the windmills of Friesland
hands which played legerdemain
for an unpaying and bedazzled audience

in the middle of the square
the people had all but vanished
leaving in their stead
the only possession they had
which could claim true authenticity
THEIR OWN BARE HANDS

in the middle of the square
there were long diaphanous hands
hands thick and veined as chipolatas
gnarled hands that cried for solace
craftman's hands mottled with splinters
hands whose fingers knew the printed word
so intimately, the whorls could be read in italics
and whilst all hands are pure and innocent
some of them, lovingly manicured
belonged to high class thieves
others, downy as a foal's nape
glinted with particles of cocaine dust

the birds that nested under the awnings of the square
feasted their eyes upon this choreography in Hands Major
twittering to their hearts' delight
as surely they must have eons ago
long, long before their biped cousins
had invented the art of masquerade

in the middle of the square
through the whims of gods
for a fraction of eternity
man had only nature to clothe his soul

Publication Date: 11-21-2009

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