invoice

by Jack Ohms

at the so-called hospitality trade event;
a video of factory-produced chickens
churned on and on from a big screen;
the little trussed-up bodies
going past the camera like beads
on a counting machine:

10 - 20 - 30 - 40 - 50 -

beneath, a display of deep-sea fish,
on ice,
shells, creatures from God-only-knows-where

"is that a marlin?"

(some spirit of the sea)

"no, it’s a swordfish"

just lying there on its side
with it’s wide jelly eye on me
and the roof lights flickering there
like the surface of the ocean,

flickering while people do deals

and

deals – I’ve had my fill –

10 - 200 - 3,000 - 40,000 - 500,000

millions

- it never
never stops.