"We Could Be For Example"

could be for example

had we not been us

another thing

or scores of them

a museum

filled with let us say inanities

objects which in Diodorus’ time meant many things

but which today

are

for us

odd knobby bits cracked gashed edges

stone tongues what did they say

we do not care

they simply rest inside us

we could be

for example

granite

having swallowed hors d’oeuvres of feldspar

perhaps porphyritic perhaps something else

and with a sleek sheen polished

we would simply reflect

when people looked upon and at us

they would not know what we were thinking

or even yes a thurible

upside down arcing almost orbit-like

whiffs of labdanum and sandarac

winding through the congregation

and they would smell the beatific

or think they do