Jake's Flea Market

between that place
when the light that lit
into the specter of the dead
king   extinguished

and that place   when that light
that lit into that shade
reignited

marcellus leaned
down on his hands on the parapet   peered
into the horizontal abyss of the east   i swear
he saw through a blind man’s
darkness that night like he saw
through every horizon

saw   all the way to norway   oslo   saw
up a boulevard that passed
through that season of branches   leafless   
and through those hours in which   torches burned

saw through masonry
a wide hallway down to its distant end
a long table   and in an armchair
at the head of the table   seated   i swear he saw
the king of the vikings the servant of the danes
uncle fortinbras and seated
at the table to the uncle’s right
the nephew   i swear   i swear

marcellus read
the movements of the uncle’s hands
read the movements of the uncle’s lips   
and in his brainless heart he knew the conspiracy   
in his out of his head   heart he knew

i didn’t have a heart

i theorized   philosophized   
but in my heartless head i didn’t know
if those were the same cannons i cleaned
polished   greased when i was a guest
at elsinore that summer   two years before

if those were the same cannonballs i helped
store there on the battlements   
the same bows   the same crossbows   
the same arrows i helped oil   stack

and the chevaux de frise   the frisian horses sunk
so deep the sod gripped them like rooted 
oaks across the pasture in front of the castle gates   

i didn’t know if those were the same i helped repair

i didn’t have a feeling   faithful heart
and marcellus didn’t want to hear what i 
cynical   thought   and couldn’t unthink

he wanted me to confirm
what he knew   in his heart   in his heart

so i told him what he wanted to hear

i lied