Cynic Psyche

Alice, the kidnapped girl, sits

beside the lake. Her toy boat

is bobbed in various directions

by the currents of fish. Tony,

the drunk cabbie, stubs out

another unfiltered Camel, lights

its brother in the same motion.

Tony is watching Alice. Alice

is watching the boat. There is a cat

in the maple tree above Tony's head.

Tony has not noticed the cat. It, too,

is watching the boat.

Across the lake two heads of state

zip their flies after mutual oral sex.

They do not know Alice. One of them

has ridden in Tony's cab. The cat

is the father of the other's cat's

kittens, but the head of state

does not know this.

The kidnapper, who

has been dead three months

in his bed, has yet

to be discovered

except by the flies.