the silent night of the Batman
even while they carried their
gift-wrapped parcels and looked
to each other with smiles of belief
the shop signs hummed dark
against the marbled frontage
while above the quiet floors
of stone-framed window looked east
looked south all the same in ink-black sky
enough to write a novel in a single sitting
enough to hold a fleet of stars
above the skyline stacking slowly;
when the sky turns ink-green the rooftop
gathers ink-blue attention and leaps
without step or swing through the
glass and cornice of city vista and
lingering thought to shadow the guilt
to alley the share to streetlamp the fear
and river the rose cast high and wide to the stars
until marzipan fingers reach across the
ink-purple sky and marshmallow lights
go out
cf. “The Silent Night of the Batman” by Mike Friedrich, Neal Adams and Dick Giordano, published in Batman #219, February 1970
————w(O)rmholes________________________________|—–
attention wormhole: left alone
Batman wormhole: we play / the game
black & blue & green & sky wormhole: clouds
buildings & shops wormhole: Christmas lights / around the lamp post
city & light & windows & years wormhole: 1967
glass wormhole: dream 260815
night wormhole: Hotel Room, 1931
purple & rooftops wormhole: purple and mauve
river wormhole: row boat
shadow wormhole: com- / mute
silence wormhole: de Boeddha // of light
skyline & stone wormhole: sit
sound wormhole: plop!
streetlight wormhole: portrait: / two pigeons
thought wormhole: Automat, 1927 – held
writing wormhole: when writing // stay
