Foxtrot Delta Tango

A rabbit will teach you with its teeth –
your finger a carrot –

the long hole difference 
between hedge-hidden doors

and lucky feet hanging ten
In the pocket,

between buck-wild buckshot
cleansing the palate,

and the hunter's game bag 
empty today –

between labyrinth and maze,
between Labradors and maize,

between dog stars and hunted
in the corn or the cosmos

because you leapt so hard
you shot to the sky 

and didn't turn around until Sirius 
was upon you with diamond fangs,

Canis Major and Canis Minor
baying at your heels, 

until you go to ground
until you visit the Minotaur again

and answer his question:
Is the road straight, or does it break?

Will you return the way you came?
Or all is lost?

Keep your kits close,
and your own skin closer.

It takes two to tangle
deep in the earth.

Miz Quickly

12 Comments

  1. whimsygizmo says:

    So good.
    This is my fave:
    “and didn’t turn around until Sirius
    was upon you with diamond fangs”

    Oh, what personification of sky here, throughout. Wonderful.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. qbit says:

      Ah thank you. Great compliment from “De, Queen Regnant of the personification of sky”

      Like

    2. Shawna says:

      This is hot. It’s connected to the other poem I just commented on, some sort of deviant pursuit, whether murderous or not. Or perhaps the intensity is more militaristic snap. The title, of course, reminded me of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, a movie I loved.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Shawna says:

        “Oral is lost” … lol

        Liked by 1 person

      2. qbit says:

        Hey, yes. The two poems are linked! This was the first poem, and like you said, sort of a deviant pursuit. (I like that characterization.) The other poem takes this poem’s last and first(ish) lines as its opening. So also a “rebound” of sorts. At which point the root thing just sort of took over and began to push down into whatever soil it could find. They do seem sort of related, even past those shared lines. Maybe just my unconscious at work. Not sure what that says! As my wife asked me once: “So, like, what is actually going on in your brain?” Not clear where the poems land, I certainly couldn’t say. “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot”- yes, exactly, or something along those lines. I was probably thinking of that but just couldn’t remember, so made up my own.

        Like

        1. Shawna says:

          I think it’s fun to write like that — with no specific intention, letting the story warble and morph into whatever it wants to be at any given moment.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. qbit says:

            Oh hell yeah!!

            Like

          2. qbit says:

            I feel like my job is to get out of the way as much as possible.

            Like

  2. Jules says:

    Letting the direction go from ground to sky and around the uni-verse!!
    Being that hubby is former (vol) fire service… he often uses that alphabet to be clearer – like when placing phone orders…

    Kind of their own code when words just splash into the universe like comet dust. 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    1. qbit says:

      I love your husband calling for pizza saying Whisky Foxtrot Delta.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Jules says:

        Usually it is for electronic parts… with numbers and letters… And most often those folks understand.

        I used to have a desk area where I had the Nato alphabet where I could see it if I needed to use it. I’m not sure if the medical profession also uses it. 😀

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Jules says:

          oh… Hubby just explained WTF… and also a Charlie Foxtrot… hummm..
          even if you didn’t use ‘that’ as the title and just used your own words…
          Things are a tad um… clearer now… like Fobar… or Chaos…

          Although Chaos also has a ‘homemaker’ definition; as in “Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome” …well because the dust is just piled to high… 😉

          Liked by 1 person

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