Paul labels the night Bad.
The night brushes off the label.
The label floats on the wind
until the wind drops it onto a patch of ground.
The label sticks to the grass.
It turns the grass black as night.
The earth opens up in that spot
and an oozing tar pit appears.
This is an effort by the earth
to conceal the label.
Covering the label Bad in tar
so it cannot be read by passersby.
Paul happens by the tar pit.
It bubbles and spits some tar on his favorite shirt.
Abstractly the tar-spatter spells out
the word Bad on Paul’s shirt.
copyright © 2021 Kenneth P. Gurney
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