"REDEMPTION ON HOLD (UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE)"

    I

the sun sinks through a swollen sky
like a rock through the belly of a bloated cadaver

upon the circumzenithal arc the dome burst :
a cosmic migration of bats evades this shadow-hole
and flees into our world

the sun sticks, suspends  

in the nictitating membranes
of time

as does human memory

ruthless accelerative phenomena
beyond all human control

   we all become rust-covered swords
   and fossils of naive hope
   buried deep in the mire of history

   and onward ever backward
   we wander
   trying to find our way
   back to redemption

    II

mystical vessel of trans-Neptunian penetration
delivers an ominous message
from beyond the Kuiper belt  

behold the hail of comets ! volleys of muskets
saluting the coming of conclusion !

the sun is a black hole
an enormous ball of kinetic energy
hanging from the gibbet of the universe
and whoever, whatever crushes this piñata
get to claim the prize :

     total nuclear annihilation

     total synapse destruction

crawling towards the Omega Point
an ultimate revelation of wisdom :

the universe may be indifferent to intelligence
no matter how spiritually refined it may be