Invitations to an accident

Train tracks through the dining room
he had to become
comfortable with lying down
but when the frenetic bell for dinner came
he felt cocktail sticks spiking on his lips
and the slats of metal seemed to heat

each time there
was no train, only
devastated meat and burnt vegetables,
and there was a display of gnashing he was forced to watch through a glass table

where
one by one
things disappeared
into their grotesque tunnel faces

she stood on a chair the breath of fibres down her neck like
the wishes
of a deceased lover
she watched with nerves every entrance of the guests but they
always had enough chairs

they helped her into the noose but
they had prepared for a life without her chair

when they looked at each other in moments between meals
they spoke in silence,
a knowledge that
whenever the train did finally come
the end of the world would be driving
and the total destruction of consciousness
would be orchestrated by circles of sleek steel

all along
the dining guests seemed to enjoy their time
so much more