Lucas Smith


White Butterflies


Yes I know what white butterflies mean
but can we be ordered about this
and conduct ourselves
in moderation with all things
up to and including moderation
bishop's hats right now on tele
look like come to think of it
white butterflies and don't you think
naipaul used them to such eerie effect
at the end of a bend in the river
that book is imperialist
or he is, or something terrible
which is what white butterflies mean,
death, actually, though
here watching the kids
across the road biking with surfboards
after school to the beach
and white butterflies cornering
in the corner of my eyes
on the last shirtless day of summer
though here conduct ourselves
and let's best not be clever.



Monies


christ took monashes from

badiou book hiding place

but bank is closed for labour day

and he feels fleeing king slouching town

jason sold silver us kennedys

for four more monashes

george bass appears on banknotes

in carmel's corinella dream

but the dealer won't be back in town

till next financial year.

keep anything with george v it will

be valuable soon christ advises at inlet pub

transfer monies, hide what is caesar's

from caesar—time, freedom

monies is time, freedom

monies feeds itself with monies

and monash goes bank on bookshelf




Lucas Smith is a writer from California and the Gippsland region of Victoria. His poetry has appeared in Cordite, Curator, The American Aesthetic, Cadaverine and is forthcoming in El Portal.
 
 
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