THE COUNTER

by PALEO/David Strackany

out here they hired a man to count the stars
a holy ghost with rainstickfigure arms
brought from boston’s famous numbers school
the country called the counter to a dual
all heaven’s bodies are now property of state, they said
we need them numbered, mr. counter, right away
so he fetched his special pen
he sent for an abacus
procured a french curve from the grocery
and gave his faculties a test
13 oranges
7 pears
2 spills in aisle 2
4 children cry 11 tears
all in a single room
but when he looked into the eyes of outer space
something within the counter must have changed
all future seemed a vulture of a lie
drawing circles black and hollow in its sky
sure as morning ferments duly into day
his ivy ego’d gone without a trace
gone and in its place a smart despair
gone and in its place a vacant stare
nothing means a thing
life’s a phone that never rings
it’s all meaningless and empty and unfair
he rushed to tell the country
and rushed to tell his wife
he rushed to warn his little girl
his baby bird of paradise
that god ate up the animal in man
pointed to visions of a promise near at hand
and on the double we were enraptured of the land
til religion ate up god and science ate up religion and culture ate up science
and commerce ate up culture ate up compassion ate up friendship
then music came to try to lead the way
to try to make some sense of every day
it drew pictures in my head
put its sounds inside my tongue
and for the first since god was god we felt okay
while computers chew on television screens
and no one dare say anything they mean
music offered hope of some reprieve
music made a promise
that it could almost keep
except there’s not a single sound
deep in outer space
there isn’t anything but empty lightyears
silent as the grave
but his lady wouldn’t listen
she tells her friends he works too much
and the country asked if he could hold
he said yes and then hung up
and now that it was very nearly dawn
and the twilight swept the stars under the lawn
his baby girl was sleeping like a lamb
to tell her now, he thought, would just be wrong
but just then she opened up her baby eyes
and he saw in them something to his surprise
the sun had poked over the hill
and her eyes had caught the light
and he saw in them the very stars
he’d counted earlier that night

to listen to david read it, go HERE