ELEVENTH HOUR FLASH

The head mechanic's guillotine
Where my car engine is hanging
Is hanging my car engine by the head
Its bolts and nuts, seals, and joints
Interspersed all around
Its apertures agape
Bleeding dead lubricants.
With his hand of iron
The head mechanic securely framed by the right hand
Is firmly securing
The center-slanting iron carcass
Into new middle ground.
Said she before he got
The chop-ahead sign
"You know, iron brother,
I can't make head or hose of us
But why bother to comprehend
The local structure of the act
Where the means justify the end;
Dispose of me wherever
You deem fit to
Dispose of yourself:
We are both expendable".

BETRAYAL

With the palm of your hands

Amidst the cries of seagulls

and the deafening thunder

You could barely holler  

Your voice lost in the brouhaha.

I paddled my way to you

Despite the tumult

And against practice

I reached out

And by any measures

I delivered…

As the scribe later penned the bond

The waves and the clouds and the moon far up

Bore witness to our deed

Only to realize

Ten cycles later

It was mere theater

To be replayed

On other random stages.

Ali H. Raddaoui

10/19/2019