Public Republic

Timothy Pilgrim

Photo: Corey Leopold

Actually, not true.
Life has turned into a fraudulent adverb

faking its way to death,
disguised as a successful modifier,

say, an adjective or gangly participle
with a whole covey of obedient followers.

As for going good, the well is —
how to put it — also a lie,

contains nothing of substance, has dried up —
redundantly and figuratively speaking.

After all, do not cisterns dry downward,
water slipping stealthily away

into gray clay, seeking black cracks
at shaft’s bottom, every drop,

like hope, vanished —
gone, well, forever, good?