PROSE POETRY
 
PAUL ILECHKO

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EVERYTHING IS BOUNDED

Everything that follows she said is parenthetical everything is braced and bounded (as the somber priests begin to congregate within their liberated attitudes) all these memories she said are filtered and compressed are added to the ever-growing pile of game-show clutter of cheap disposable re-giftings so many seats she said are empty still but what surprises me most is that anyone is here at all and yet there you are with your raucous coughs and twinkling screens I left my house she said knee deep in snow I left my house beneath a blistering sandstorm (do you feel my pain as I sink into endless metaphor?) my mother she said warned me to stay away from coastline my mother wanted me to sleep from start to end until awakened by a silent mystery life she said has been that mystery has been that metaphor has been the collection of abstractions contrapuntal in its very nature that spins across the gap the gap she said is time the gap is also distance and here I call upon my black-robed minions my deaconry my pastoral authorities everything preceding this she said was parenthetical everything was symbolism (do you feel yourselves contained are you more aware now of your boundaries?)

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​Poet and songwriter Paul Ilechko is the author of three chapbooks, most recently “Pain Sections” (Alien Buddha Press). His work has appeared in a variety of journals, including Rogue Agent, San Pedro River Review, and Lullwater Review. He lives with his partner in Lambertville, NJ.

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