FORREST RAPIER

The Neanderthal Tongue

I am the pterodactyl of parataxis
Hippolytus said ‘the life of humankind is complete
misery’ Gorgias made a fist—in Tallahassee

I tripped highlighter shoes & laced shake
like a nasty crossover
quaking ankles on a blacktop

whole cases of cheap yeast we drank
barley barrels & barely ate
when the Gulf hurricane swang rain

I got a bloody nose wrestling Leo in his muddy yard
we let the chickens run off
they couldn’t have gotten far

***

fabricating Leon County grammar
while Scout Finch bobbles in a ham costume

pigeons duck viridian domes
underneath my fingernails after work

jumping dead Neons then a Pontiac
half-mile past the Lil Champ with cherry

slurpees & hot peanuts in a crackpot
I know only the Neanderthal tongue

***

towing broke-down Corollas then an Aztek
while Scout Finch ducks under a ham

tweaking Maycomb in a crackpot book
I only know Neanderthals & tongue

hot peanuts in a lot half-mile past the Lil Champ
blazing a bubbler of vermillion-purp with Leo

after work we chew on grammar
in a county where no one lifts a fingernail

***

high-stepping puddles in his spartan raincoat
Zay toe-taps Pegasus shoelaces
while his halo lungs thrust cloud nothings

a sun-void week of anguish
the frown-dappled shiver-people putter
parasols through a cold front miracle

minimalist pedestrians & hooded wanderers
quake in black jackets headed for church
bells & horsemen gallop behind the infinite

windows every thumb filing opus complaints
Nike regrets her face & humorless messengers
finalize the Dada movement by hurling apples

over Duchamp’s urinal & opening their vanity
consider this hermetic yowl poetic étouffée.