Pull Yourselves Together

Fragments often travel in

Packs, observed Alan Ziegler

Of things like aphorisms,

Greguerias, and maxims,

But it’s true of all fragments,

Isn’t it? Broken dishes,

Beach glass, the strips of words left

On torn poster palimpsests,

Also rock art, graffiti—

All fragments travel in packs,

Down to crushed wayside gravel.

Not all offer much contrast,

True, which is a specialty

And point of pride for highbrow

Fragments, like aphorisms,

But you can hear them howling

Every night in sad places,

Smashed and unhappy, in packs.