Suzanne Marie Hopcroft

Proof Of Proposition 1: The Proposal

First, consider the caterwauling of his bones.
Assume conversely that the caterwauling is
insufficient. Then, conditions hot stove and
spry keyboard must hold simultaneously. Note
that train cars run from an unshod field, and
substituting green hills to asphalt, we obtain
the hysterical gulps of flight. This hysteria
and the scotch imply the following inequality:
she will not trudge where he skips. This
contradicts our worn almanac.

Next, consider the parade of painted brides.
Assume conversely that the parade of
brides is a masquerade that hems in grief.
Then, conditions fortress and unkempt must
hold simultaneously for a rowdy soul. Note
that hidebound feet pinch and sting, and
substituting colanders to clay, we obtain
the razor cliffs. This implies regret. Again,
this contradicts our worn almanac. Q.E.D.
 

Operation X

I’ve got spring in my teeth, a bungee step.
All the farm and field ruptures

are through, the craters carved without
a single burp in the schedule.

Our plan to salt the western lakes
went off: hitchless, prescient.

Up mountains and down streams, there
are creatures whose very breathing

belies the existence of
us. Now the faces in the street

are stone, their doubt- and dream-wrinkles
smoothed into masks of belief.

There are no more thoughts of battening
and none of throwing down. Though

admittedly, we have concerns. If some
little person were to drape herself

in colors, howl mutiny from
the roof, would our welcome band

still play? I can hear them now:
the sweet absence of violins,

prophetic brass dissonance and
a vacant look sweeping the crowd,

fistfuls of forgotten rhapsodies
in the undoing night.

Suzanne Marie Hopcroft‘s poetry is forthcoming or has appeared in Hayden’s Ferry Review, Phoebe, Natural Bridge, The Collagist, and Drunken Boat. Suzanne is an MFA student in poetry at The University of California, Irvine.