Maps of...

 Maps of maps of maps of maps of,

Analogy inside and out.

An iterative loop of maps.

We want the comfort of a circle,

but it loops

and loops

and loops

as far as we can map it.

The looking-glass reflects the glass that looks,

While ink-completeness stains the scholar’s books.

The compass turns to chart its own design,

Where every signifier sighs inside the line.

We trace the hedge to find the mound,

But find the edge a wider bound.

We leap to stand upon the ground,

Yet find the leap defines the round.

Cartography becomes a clever trap,

A tract entrapped within the tracker’s track,

Until the trail consumes the mind that makes the map.

We are the authors of the lapse,

Painting the backer behind the backer,

A phantom ghost, a shadow-tracker,

Who turns around to trace the front,

To find the ending is the hunt,

And starts the chase again with:

Maps of maps of maps of maps of...