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r.s. mason’s debut book of poems, Nearer to Never, was published by SUNY Press in 2015. The text was a finalist in the Eugene Paul Nassar Poetry Prize. Poems have appeared in Chronogram, THEMA, Milk & Cake, AMP, Sorte and Island of Yak-Yak.
DECONSTRUCTING ATLAS
Once, doing so would have
shattered the very Cosmos
after all, your shoulders
once sustained the earth
and all the heavens.
Thank you, Atlas, but you
needn’t strain anymore;
such one-pointed devotion
is no longer understood.
your strength of just force --
now a tired obeisance.
You see, you’re only stone,
and there’s nothing to be held
no purpose, or nature,
or world to be revealed.
SOMETHING NEW
i’m more in accord with
the world to come --
so bequeath me nothing
leave me undone
no story of pilgrims who
find home once again
(no carnage made glory
by ancient cenotaphs)
but something new,
impossibly offered;
something unacted
hiding in place:
beyond us, for us –
all this time, abiding
WAITING ROOM
as figures come and go in
sorties about the chairs --
(chairs of worn faux leather
with stains on the seats)
we blink, and are pensive,
& swaddle seeming wounds
similar to everyone here
who loves a weary shrine --
in lieu of acceptance: its
the drama of reprieve;
waiting for absolution --
never wanting to leave.
WHAT I CAN'T TRANSCEND
Distance Lust Boxes
Pansies Deathbeds Chairs
Daydreams Brilliance Carnivals
Trump Gravity Choice
Paradox Drought Birds
Events Fascism Rotation
Oblivion Delight Entropy
ENERGY DISC
Oh, my! – now i’m
an energy disc, light-
filled and beating
my center shooting
radial sparks about
in all directions
while a smaller track
of colored lights chase
around my edge
(a sign of my own
festival, a sign of
my own play --)
a wild & happy
gnostic joy i so
wanted to display.
