Blackbirdan online journal of literature and the artsFall 2016  Vol. 15 No. 2
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an online journal of literature and the arts
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back MICHAEL BAZZETT

The Reader

opens the book and begins disappearing,

hands first. The invisible
tips of her fingers turn pages,
mistaken for a slow wind.

The ticking clock stops and the spreading

translucence works its way into her
head where it uses an old eraser
to remove stray marks and draw

a blank. Ideas scuttle into cupboards,
one stacked into another like bowls.

Walls recede in shadow. There is no eye

but the one that swallows words
in an endless hurtling train,

going always into the tunnel,

its passengers oblivious,
its shuddering windows

lit from within.  


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