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Brushing up on the Landmarks

Having nailed down the essential knob heights and sign lengths, nothing remained but to secure the perimeter space according to the industry method specified on the individual package backs.

Having excised the small signs of the administration's patronage, nothing remained but to link the vertical members along the excavation marks and set up concrete retrieval chains.

Having centered the pits exactly 14 feet in front of the light poles, nothing remained but to elevate the dump truck beds and initiate pouring along the double leg wooden scaffolding.

Having burned through the start-up materials check and broken in to several nearby garages, nothing remained but to search the freezer and switch to donated clothing as a medium for the remainder of the grant period.

Having tangled the metal cords around the shrubbery and small wooden fences, nothing remained but to smoke attentively and wait for revealing cloud formations.

Having blasted the upper two stories down to the essential structural elements, nothing remained but to insert the plastic slides and pump the fruit juice according to the pre-planned rates.

Having tucked the sheets down under the hamburger wrappers and partly filled plastic cups, nothing remained but to slip into the holster, initiate the lighting sequence and palm the bullhorn.

This poem appears in the 2001 Anthology
View all poems by Lytle Shaw