THE REFERENT

dances about architecture, egregiously.

Calls the cause and the consequence

by the same name.

Makes perfect approximations

when trying to quantify the unquantifiable.

Doesn’t dilly when it can dally.

Lives by clock and ruler.

Spills blood and ink.

Carries a pocket thesaurus

under its hair piece

to help it find the right words

for what it isn't feeling.

Could be said to be oxymoronic

and hypochondriacal.

Is fond of spicy pickles.

Hears a chorus of narrators 

in its knuckledheaded noggin

and the scarlet song of the tanager

outside its tinted window.

Believes that believing in pain

is more efficient than actually having it.

And wonders, really wonders

what it must have been to be Ornette Coleman

when he decided to set jazz free.