"Holes in the Safety Net"...

" Holes in the Safety Net "

by Suzán Jiván
Mom & Mom-
Mom Suzán

Holes in the safety net
found unsafe
due to prolonged contamination
in scores of places

as after-hours deliberation and debate
for opposing candidates
in complete disarray

over the decades
in worse shape
having been repatriated
under highways

beneath leaden pipes
being likened to dynasties
from the mainstream
free flowing in invisible inks

heading deeper
into fleeting prominency
like last-minute-last-ditch
courtship among other things

more fretting laboratory tests
federally approved levels
unsettled by experts
in red letters of meanspiritedness
ricocheting down stairwells
someone wailing, "Stand down!"

rolling out well-read passages
like revised tests in a general sense
problem percentages glimpses of dread
more substantial than ever

wondering whether
abnormally small heads
are a consequence
"Don't get pregnant!"

immunity will build
to a parasitic paralysis
by breaking its backs
with panicky strategies

bent for quelling infectious diseases
during high transmission seasons
due to mosquito breeding
buzzes of evening

while lending ears during analyses
by deep deprived colleagues
as a far cry from neuroscience at midnight

being prewired like a false very tired
under a rarely definable deadline
arbitrarily oversimplified
eye to eye sensory deprived

like the spoiler recap that's snatched away
by a herky-jerky big bad wolf in a gray
hoodie and handlebar mustache

tapped fortuitously taking a gamble
bored 'n' unhappy grannies of percussive sass
wearing flippers and a snorkel mask

minimal but canny after creating snags
unlikely to be surpassed
while donning blocky sunglasses
in a breakdance

engagingly distractable
heart-grabbing children and parents
being far surpassed by a noise-making app

off-kilter swervings into underworlds
of frazzled nerves being winched
taut or slacked, "Don't ask!"

quiet and offhand
like the unsentimental candor
of raising cash through prayer
with unfolded hands
well within grasp
tense times with grampy

striped and spotted for concealment
associating peaceably heavy black streaks
thin grey bands in small packages

high-pitched screams
long series of, "kik kik kik kik kik"
common in lowlands spotty in highlands
sooty black habitats of grasslands
singly or in pairs gliding in open air...