BOTTLE

BOTTLE

genie was in the bottle
bottle was on a plinth
plinth was right
in the centre
of the gallery
and they
were so
fucking glib

they pranced they danced
they pontificated
sprayed glitter, ribbon too

but that genie
swirled in its prison
like poison
nitro-glycerine,
rocket fuel

and I wondered
alone sensing all
that diabolical anger, power
if
some crazed fool
might release it, break
it free what it might effect
what
outrageously do

and so
we talked and drank
the genie and I
as we left the gallery
empty save
for bottle on plinth
and
its all-
new contents
stoppered, dissolved, placid
under that titanic
other-
worldly pressure

best place for them
to forever be