Belief Case

BELIEF CASE

1.

the world is everything that is the briefcase

the hinge

shadow and ground
held together

papers inside
a tree


2.

a briefcase
has two faces:

an inside that becomes
an outside

the origami of darkness
manifold
a handle on a cave
an origami of time as well as space

the face of the briefcase
the planet’s laconic smile


3.

a ring of briefcases
a henge

something new
may be sacrificed

the eye casts no shadow
but is where shadows cast


4.

a lung’s worth of air
an archive of sighs

a lake without water
a lake’s worth of water
looking for a bed

the cattle are lowing
the briefcase awaits


5.

evolution expected the briefcase
but was surprised by water

wave
the briefcaseless hand
clap
the clasps of the hands

hands swim through
infinite wisps of paper
the impossible air


6.

what is the difference between
a typewriter and a lion
a sheep and a briefcase

driving past the fields:
-I see the sheep are shorn
-at least on the side we see
-ah yes. the outside.


7.

briefcases on the mountain
and the sky split by thunder

dark follows the hand into the briefcase
doesn’t know what the moonlight says

night holds the earth by its black handle
walks