John Sweet

 
notes on the aftermath

and then after
your lover’s suicide you
spend a year painting
nothing but death

you dig tunnels
that go nowhere

fill them with broken glass

with the splintered
teeth of strangers

leave the door at the end
of the hall open in
case the
house begins to fall
 

poem like the faded hearts of martyrs

the minotaur in his labyrinth,
which is as it should be,
and all the ships lost at sea

the planes
which disappear

turn up again
hundreds of miles away
in a thousand smoking pieces
and everyone dead

       everyone dead

so many bells to ring and
none of them make
any sound at all
 

John Sweet is the author of Approximate Wilderness (Flutter Press 2016) and the limited edition Heathen Tongue (2018 Kendra Steiner Editions 2018).