Dodo Eraser

I. Tunnel

I know there

must
be a surface, yet

memory’s crust
is lately suspect—



II. Vision’s

The limits of the eye contract

the other senses’ broader map.
(At night, I still

dream landmarks from

childhood under my eyes)



III. Circling

Each rotation tightens fiction’s
friction         repetition          teeth.
Passion’s lockjaw circumvention:
vectors rounded
by belief—

IV. Drill

a routinized behavior
a mechanically rotating point
an exercise in ideal form
a group agreement to pretend
a trench for cultivating seeds



V. Accelerates

personal deity exodus tragedy optimized
loneliness breaking bottleneck leaky atmosphere
fading layer loaded balance tipping
point motion stop entropy bit
rate shot sign post broke

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D.W. Baker is a poet, reviewer, and editor from St. Petersburg, Florida. His poems appear in Identity Theory, fifth wheel press, BRUISER, and Controlled Vocab Mag, among others, and have received nominations for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize. His reviews and essays appear in Variant Lit, Paraselene, BROKEN ANTLER, and more. He edits poetry for Libre. See more of his work at www.dwbakerpoetry.com