flicker in the cold

when I say
it is cold this morning
I mean my heart

waking disturbed at the wrong hour
after a nightmare of
psychopathic surgery

groggily swimming between worlds
until the 3 am alarm
reminds me once again
of the world's essentials

college bowl scores
and who was traded
for how many millions

as howling January winds
conspire on my 17 degree porch
keeping me curled up far too long

wondering

who is the psychopath
so empty-hearted and vile

is he the public mind
so dire after returning to
a post-holiday work grind

is he recent death
distorted into a bone-slicing maniac

a symbolic punisher
of personal and collective vain-ego

do soulless websites
somehow take a chunk of bone
from the base of a man's skull

is he too much pomodoro
the nightshade in my diet

the economic conspiracy
I was reading about
and JFK

friends I can't seem to find
and some vengeful lonely
shadow of mine

the lack of a secure
automotive and dental
infrastructure to rely on

reports from Gaza with
snapshots of more heartless
institutionalized murder

or just some random villainous schmuck
who on the way to my graduation
had it out for Captain Kirk--

what is he doing
in this psychic sphere
I've lately thought so well integrated

and how can I rest
until I know

what is to be done
with the sudden appearance
of such an icy mind

darkly figured
and behind the scenes
so cunningly cutting

but light a candle
to flicker in the cold

and wait for the thaw