it's a direct deal
Christopher Mulrooney

we have all the shops in a row on the town
by way of compensation for lack of a town

ask for the weight of it be guessed
in the larktime of the seasons
there are four in all
a tetrad
a crossword puzzle word

parsnips in the oven
on the table wooden covered
with a cloth
buttered

(and here I must explain for the benefit of certain readers
the parsnips are in a dish
upon the cloth on the table
and are buttered not the cloth
nor the table but perhaps the dish)

the crossword puzzle is a system of words
of which in this example tetrad is one
indicated by the seasons (a convention)
with the time of singing larks étant donné
and the weight of lack not of the town

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