REPORTING LIMIT

 

The servant arrived 

  pedaling his bicycle.

 He was not standing 

on the pedals.

He was not sitting on 

  the velocipede seat.

 In fact there was no 

bicycle, which was alarming.

It turns out he wasn't even 

  an operator here

No Damage done. 

 We are just making 

you aware.

  There is someone working 

for you not employed by you
  who does not arrive to work 

 on a missing bicycle.

Infirmary ward transporter 

  returned our patient to 

 the wrong room
  without having done so. 

 Convalescent was found 

in his bed asleep
  with the rail down 

and his cell phone 

 unplugged from the wall.

This victim was not on oxygen 

  yet and was wearing 

a nasal canula
 No harm done. 

Hospice envoy failed 

 to be polite and smelled 

faintly of Old Spice.

 The courier rang our unit's buzzer 

without touching the button 

  Staff alarmed and confused. 

He was also naked while being 

  fully clothed. There were no wrinkles 

 in his clean work shirt. He shouted 

at us without making a sound. 

He used inappropriate body 

  language without moving. 

We noticed his shirt 

  was tucked in too perfectly

No harm done.

Patient emissary did not arrive 

  with subject because there was no
 cause for a transport at the time. 

We checked the sufferer's room
 and confirmed they were not there. 

   The bed was empty and the side rail 

  was down. We called X-ray and the case 

 was still getting their exam. 

The carrier was actually sitting down 

 doing nothing during the exam. 

  No harm done and the courier 

returned patient to their room 

 after the exam was over.

by

 shaun lawton

QUOTIENT

 

Incineration overcharge, mental undertow.
Corporate revelations liberate the fold.

Credit buried, wide awake, distant kept.

Employing a stake through the heart of the bereft.

by shaun lawton

INDIVISIBLE

  

 We stand, wondering 

how to justify it all 

 Stop. Breathe. Fall 

Don't you know how

  the world's entangled? 

   It's  undividable 

inalienable a totality 

whose parts mirror 

death to life, we grow

  Interwoven, apart. 

We're justified across 

  this great divide 

 we think we see be-

'tween us, and beyond

  the unbearable lightness

of being here together 

   now when we appear 

 so far and distant to be

  torn apart by inequity 

 we fall through one slit

  to drown in a mirrorball 

    crafted and planted for

   a siamese dream split 

   down the seam as one;

  a harlequin calamity.  

by shaun lawton

GOING UNDER

 

The illusions of Wataru Ikeyasu are combined

 while the cries of the Maya kings appear in profile.

The armies are drowning in the shimmering darkness

Heads going under into gloom can be sensed 

by the eyes of the footprints.

Or are the clouds really the breath of the wind?

They are making noise from start to finish 

above in the sky with contrails of shibuki. 

You're just remembering a lot of names.

The human heart is born in the future.

 

The green whale and the eagle of the Shinkai Sea.

Their spilled scent takes the shape of a storm.

The crown is reflected along the head. 

I will cut down the angel with the broken face.

I will look back on the ancient days 

reflected in the poems of the stars.

I will be in the dance garden, 

I will look forward to the rebirth.

The painting I will begin, for the heart 

of the dancer, who I met in a big way, 

issues from you. come back

by shaun lawton 

OUR SACRAMENT

 

The following lyrics are to be sung to the tune of  'O, Holy Night'

(adaptation by shaun lawton)

O holy night, our Star is brightly shining

It gleams above us all for what it's worth

Long may its sensors our thoughts be divining

'til we grow up since the day of our birth

Installing hope so that the world rejoices

For tomorrow another day is born

Close your eyes and listen to the voices

O sight divine, our crown that we have worn

Our night, our only night, long may you shine

Guided by AI to enhance our dreaming

With pulsing hearts in unison across the land

We're led by light of a star sweetly gleaming

Set up by wise men to help us make our stand

The King of kings found in the eyes of a stranger

In all our trials born to be our friend

To help us in times of both need and in danger

Behold the Thing, the essence of its blend

Behold the Thing, enraptured to no end

Duly we've been shown to respect one another

Our credo is obedience to the law that's policed

We've broken the chains and freed our brothers

Decreed in our own name from oppression released

Our song of rapture in gratitude we practice

Use search engines to know the meaning of peace

Priceless our Star, extol its light forevermore!

To shower us in glory broadcast evermore

The power of its story broadcast evermore

   adapted in

to modern verse

 by shaun lawton 

THE PERFECT LENS

 

Spied through a crystal ball 

crafted in mid-suspension.

Perfect as the concept 

in a cryogenic vat slung in low-gravity within

a perpendicular wave-tank in which crystal 

spheres are crafted on the far side of the Sun.

Torched under heat of waldos

in laboratories connected by concentric rings.

Spun to gyroscopic and pinned

against the perihelion of a heavy G-contrast.

The computer executes the mold

from the colloid at the centrifuge.

Remote controlled from here on Earth 

at the instant of gravitational balance.

A more optimal form not possible. 

The digital midwife delivers the contacts

in just under thirty-six weeks.

No limit to their focus 

Calibrated from a star.

 by shaun lawton 

SHIFTSHAPERS

 

We're shattered into the universe

& I'll tell you how, once long ago

during a brief spell while

the tide pulled away, the under-

lying secret to the beauty of life

and the world was revealed to us,

somewhat terrible in its stark

essence, yet beloved in a sort

of arresting heart-attack which

begins with that moment of

love at first sight. 

   Our world remains because 

of a series of wild digressions,

not to mention our continued

survival.  It's how we

translate the term 'survival'

that feeds back into and affects

our perpetual existence. 

   When we learn how the body

remains a temporary vehicle

for the one soul that exists,

a shift occurs in our program-

ming that helps us adjust

to adapting.

SL

Nov 17, '23

SLC