Permutations of Gone

slender shadows negotiate the sun. too far stumbles. the clouds taste the wind. the focus sharpens. the distance chafes.

they're small. the places where it begins. and the ones where it ends.

we spend the math. in fits of long division. we wear the fractions. in a panic of want. the numbers sour and our war is lost. the bridges lay open. the rivers too perilous to cross.

i took the page. pencils marks and all. imagining there was art in the deception. finding colors in the dark.

empty pens cut the paper. weak folds convince the scale. there is weight in the cut.

the shepherd raises his staff. the herd pauses. still those fences failed us.