The Oblong Observatory
by Bruce Boston

It was in the wide
accusations of bluegone boys
in the failing light
of their radical passion.

It was in the wide flings
of redgone girls
in the dark praxis
of a world shorn
and foregone tomorrow.

When the sleek neck of fashion,
dinosaurus in its leathery extension,
claims it victims, children
sworn to peril,
only the shark past
and its brute glory remains.

All the swayed myths
of the century's ascension
are misbegotten.

Let us gather beneath
the grave gray ruins
of this oblong observatory
that reeks of the gods
of our unfailing obsessions,

and pray for the stray
benisons they condescend
to shower upon us.