Smaller Than Life; Crystal Myth by Frederick Pollack

Smaller Than Life

Waving a fistlike polyp, telling

the crowd which omnipotent conspiracy

to hate next, he cries, “The evidence is

as plain as – ” then stops. For many

no longer have noses. Smelling through

the tongue like reptiles has

replaced them for some, but most do

without. Asymmetrical bulging

eyes, growths, unruly

secretions – a general

slippage has occurred. But while they

with difficulty hold and wave

their ill-composed banners they feel

as one. Mice, insects, 

birds who flew too low, the occasional

mole have fled then died some distance

off. The roots of a hollow tree

shelter the swarm, which, despite the speeches,

awaits with terror and something more

complex the possible,

wavering, desultory

approach of a cat.

Crystal Myth

Ideology is an oil slick.

It may comprise one chemical or many.

Particular ideologies,

likewise, may be simple or compound.

Under any light they present

a swirl of colors, striking or disgusting.

Some compounds are combustible, even explosive,

the effect either hindered

or catalyzed by the rain that is always falling.

(This rain, viewed as an allegory

of reason, is dull; unidentified,

it’s an interesting symbol.

In either case, combined with the slick,

it creates poor driving conditions.)

Occasionally the concentration

of goo is such that ideology forms

a crystal. Seen from without,

the process looks inevitable;

from within it’s imperceptible, then suddenly

Truth is there. That crystal

is myth.