Proleptic flinch
of whiteness -
the hunch
of shouldering
into it, stoic
glitch zipping up
its jacket of static-
knit fabric
of interlocking zs.
the apotropaic
as abject, self-
replicating reflex
of self-defense.
Vain camouflage
that functions
as neither shield
nor shelter:
the canker’s milk
nourishes nothing;
the ice rink
exudes only
its own doom.