An Experimental Serpentine

Illustrate the inner life
Of the character. Advance
The story. Listen to Paul

Williams. Listen to Sondheim.
Lyrics are little machines,
Sails and steamboats on the waves.

They bring you across the waters.
The journey is the message.
It’s genius when you find

They left you stranded somewhere
Unexpected. It’s simple
Storytelling when you land

Where you expected to go.
Technology, either way.
Now take away the inner

Life of the character. Take
Away the directional
Compass points of the story.

Take away the melody.
What you’ve got left’s the shipwreck,
When the bodiless serpent

Opens its eyes and fixes
Them on the frame of your boat.
What you’ve got left’s poetry.

It’s a mess. You’ll drown in it,
And no one to watch you sink
But the words’ eyes. They seem nice.