poem with a door
and you would turn it
into one of those ideas where every step of the way
the floor moves another square tile
ahead of the hero
into one of those ideas where every step of the way
the floor moves another square tile
ahead of the hero
of this video game
into a scene which you don’t see
until he moves into it
because you’re so busy
working the joystick like a motherfucker
back and forth making the feet work
making him excellent
at the obstacles, jumping up
over that log, blitting the red button, now
the whip curling, just in time
to follow the limbs swinging
over the ravine
and because you’ve already mastered
this one, you know exactly
how it is, that you get him into that final frame
in the deluxe edition
the monster waits in, in waist high water
with a woman strapped to a rock
and you can feel
the deft move with which he pulls
the arrows out, the bow from his back…
and begins running, rapidly, from there