ODESSA'S PAPERCLIP
A man with horns, scales and a bow
moves around a turnpike like a snail
commanding an army of ants attached to chains
like dogs on the fringe who think they're gods
in a race with a hare named Mike.
They're all part of the fourth Reich.
Seeds surrounding snakes sprout tykes evolved from apes.
They live in a box as children dream of frost on the grass
heath lacing the nests where they get sheaves for his bow
passed pits of spikes, beaks, branches, Christ, ferns
and gems. They chew gum on the hike with the law in
the net made of sheet rock under the stars like war ;
plant a bean to the clouds brushing death and the flint of
ghosts with guts hitch a ride on a life with oblique roots.
The shrikes strike waves, avoid the bees and
smoke buds when they get back to the glades.