Empty

　　by Laura Mullen

　　Huge crystalline cylinders emerge from the water

　　The future

　　Where do they come from the King gushes these talking fish

　　Show me at once

　　We see the writer buried under a collapsing mountain of scribbled-over

　　papers

　　While ink blurts from an overturned bottle

　　Speech is silver the King mutters

　　Silence is

　　They discover a fabulous ancient city

　　Black lake

　　Flag of smoke

　　Where we turned to look

　　Skulls， bats， stars， spirals， lightning bolts

　　Words spoken in anger

　　Flowers for sarcasm

　　The sequence continued to work in references to the brevity of life

　　Garlands of flowers

　　Stars signaling physical impact

　　They discover a fabulous ancient city

　　Under the water

　　None of the inhabitants

　　'Be reasonable . . .'

　　Increasingly faint trace of inked

　　Flowers delicate

　　After that

　　Cat catch

　　The decree

　　Eradicate