Lusions, by James Ragan

In the laugh belly of too little thought,

a lusion is eating up the mind

for nothing. It needs no compensation

for the distance it will travel or the time

it takes to eat the hum of reason

out of tongues. It is only the brief

nuisance of its love for laughter

that keeps the mind whole.

In the laugh belly of our prehistoric skulls,

lusions like tumors in the brain

grow secret terrors into what is taught.

Each day our hunger turns to silence,

we lose another thought.

From “Lusions” by James Ragan. (Grove Press Poetry Series: 185 pp., $20) Copyright 1997 Reprinted by permission.