Brainstorm

by Ian McLachlan

i.

Golden case cuffed to my wrist

box of tech firecrackers:

time navigator –

I hoped to snag a trace of you

outside Maccadam’s Oil House;

unrecordable weapon

to shatter foes, siphon

their screams.

Spark’s white heat exported

to hard currency.

ii.

Paradox-exempt time hopper

existential gun jetting

a fatal squib of ennui –

my scrambled spark’s ravings.

What would I say to you

outside Maccadam’s Oil House?

How defuse an enemy?

The code I chew on

fitting parts

putting out the trash.

IAN MCLACHLAN’s collaborative pamphlet, Confronting the Danger of Art, was published by Sidekick Books in 2011. His poems have been published in a wide variety of journals and anthologies, including The Rialto, Magma and The Wolf.