Poetry cafe number 3

Like we would need to escape

if the flames of ignorance burnt our temple down

our pages are made of mind-stuff

grasping out of our various lobes to clutch the slippery truth of the word

like we would need to escape

so insulated from the ignorance of bonfire piles

of discredited magicians and prophetic charlatans

denying us the tangibility of love and of hurt

as we sink into red plastic chairs to feel the full

aching brilliance of shared thought

like we would need to escape

if the inferno reached this far down,

would it be better outside, in the ruin of human life

or should we put our hands up, sacrifice our fingers for the warmth of shared brilliance

cut us out, cut us out,

keep us underground and cool

give us signs to escape, into the quarantine of society

we are not monsters

we who hide under the stairs,

hogging blake for ourselves,

eating large gulps of irony and romance

gluttons of shared brilliance

like we would need to escape

we fire-proof few

you could burn us to death, but we'd still have our bones

and those bones could spell out new words in the wreckage

like we would need to escape,

well probably we would

but not because you told us how

like we would need to escape

the fires of shared brilliance

under the stairs