Monsieur Galvani Impelled by a Wish

The amputated leg of an iron fence 
he had hung from a frog by a copper hook
impaled Galvani’s continuous twitch
gazed at askance during a lightning storm.
 
Mental treatment of physical maladies
Mesmer’s animal magnetism
made ultimate discovery possible
mysterious universe-pervading force.
 
The dead animal may be made to kick
conducting vital spirits and occult
electricity by touching the wound with 
one piece of metal the leg with another.
 
Monsieur Galvani inveighed by a hitch.
The residue of mystique in science.

Long Day’s Journey Into New England Night

Having herded us into the roadside McDonald’s
the Greyhound bus driver signed in with time,
name and number.  The watering of the camels—
a captive audience transported across state lines,
the highway a device for getting goods to market.
Contrails of jets in the atmosphere above us.
Not a shred of ecstasy, only displacement.
As dusk settles and the trees begin to dream.