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Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
Mosquito, Alex Lemon

takedown

the reality of
inventing a thing
so powerful
makes it difficult
to trace the error

an experimental run
correlates
along the status spectrum

supposed to give
claim to the unnamed
but fails to denounce
the expeditions of
the dishonest

go down

we run a little
and then stop
at a door
girl turns
with that same smile
justifies neglecting
the consequences
perspective grows dim

i watch
still convinced that i
won’t become
another casualty
but none of it makes
any sense

hesitancy has no place
within this story
girl tells me to
listen
and find truth
it’s hard for me
but i crack a smile
and go down

of positive value

when we consider
there is no conclusive proof
of any other point than this
the issue becomes
ever more precarious

those who live below
dream of looking up
at a tree painted against
a backdrop of sky
but they are driven further
into the ground

something quite fascinating
enables them to survive
we searched for ways
to save them
despite the danger of
interfering with custom
but all we could see
were the frogs

learned behavior

hard to say
anything really
about that sort of thing
the stuff that is
remembered but never mentioned

like that relationship
made weary by failure
echoes of what we wanted
but avoided
become more repressed
and shut down

girl kept talking
desiring connection
but she was on to me
though i struggled
to believe in attraction
i was crushed by
covert attacks on the soul

exchange

it wasn’t bad
just . . . discouraging
pure emotions denied
and left unsolved

curtain call came
before insight
the aftermath unfolds
gradually grows vague
left unfinished to be
studied again
in search of connection

summarizing categories of desire
might bring understanding
and reconcile
the exchange

confession

brought on by confusion
we sat there in silence
and trusted that it was good
claiming enlightenment and
wanting so desperately
to rationalize the poverty
of meaning

mirroring the lip service
merely encouraged neglecting
the beautiful and true
misrepresented in the mind and
embraced by the masses
but internalizing the remarkable
required silence

mindless

when we stopped
thinking about
the deformities of
the last thousand years
and the division
of the world
between the heroic
and the many

the new perspective was
frightening
but remarkable deeds
gave meaning
and reinforced
the stories
long told
around campfires

we moved slowly
and understood
all more clearly
that there is nothing
to explain
a love so pure
passionately slammed
against a backdrop of menace

the lucky ones say
that the myth
endures because
the alliances established peace
but they have not observed
those left behind
and pushed
into weakness

Sunrise at Work

any other point

considering the customs
of those who
lived below
the value of meaning
the issue loomed larger
and became
ever more precarious

the traders
can see nothing
of words
and just
drive it into the ground

they noticed the
frustrated looks
from the survivors
but overtly pushed
the position
out of mind

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Raymond Carver - Where I'm Calling From, Selected Stories

delays

hanging on his
every word
i failed to realize
that he did not
mention the
lunar distances

he had little to do with
the complications of
modern life
lost in the overflow
of the moonrise

we talked about the
mariner's astrolabe
and tried to invent
new ways to slow the
world to a crawl

proof

girl stands among
the others
idle like . . . lost children
words are important
but ineffectual to
tell them
misty-eyed
prettier than remembered

i ascended the aisle
to move beyond
every step closer
to virtue
could know love like . . .

girl smiled
proof that there is more
beyond the complex
and devious
running off to be baptized
emotions diluted
and the body grows cold

right answers

__ the difference between
evidence and interpretation
is just a way
___to simply dodge
_____ the issue

conclusions made accurate
with the passage of time
_____and perspective
___increases in value

rumors among
___the bedraggled
tell us we have been
made weaker by
____conflicting superstitions

_ but he will not choose sides
___ misled by less
______ they determined
to keep the issue unresolved

these matters

i know that feeling
when the day
goes walking
and the swindlers
are permitted to
carry out corruption

irregularites form like
a secret language
intrude and slowly
take control of the mind
unauthorized but
too broken to walk away

it may be that some
have been marked
for failed romance
and others are kept
solely to daydream
but it might take
something more to
control the loneliness

more central to
understanding the
categories of importance
make no connection
between the
passage and humanity

first chapter

but then i exclaimed
______in a gentle sigh
___that the stuff that attracts us
still escapes the sages

all power so energetic and drastic
____behind the heart
_________a little note inside
summarizes the aftermath
but i have never read this

____failure to make something
as honest as love
___but still believe it's true
expectations unparalleled
________supported more questioning

______comforts tell how a smile
might become impression
prominent among the silence
__________but never able to reconcile
______the promise and reality

inherent value

on the basis of
irregularities we
sat on the couch
and talked about
tenement life

lost in the territory
observations about the
paradox considered
meaningful

much to be
gained and lost
as heads of state
act without regard
to the community

where the shifts had
taken place in the
middle of invisible lines

they couldn't make
things better and
the grand play hinted at
widespread rumors

negligence

girl walks by
___ and i
_____ finally
___ just give in
desperate to think
_ about
anything else

unable to__ ignore
____the scandal
a syndicate of
preservationists
____ attack
only way the mishap
___ could be
__torn down

attempted to turn
___pinned against
__ the wall
but i promised
____to be strong

tried to conceal this
__torture
___split in two
i hid the evidence
___ behind closed doors

viewpoint

it can’t be easy to
look at the stars
when such
obvious contradictions
show that it is
only an illusion

there was movement
to stop the features
of deformity
forced to make a stand
and swallow words from
the burned book

worn out from the task
but smiled again and
made do without believing
claim left unresolved
and lacking clarity

describing the past
wouldn’t illuminate
their supposed allies
and would only bring
us back down to
the level of
nonsensical reasoning

disheveled

later i had a
conversation
in the parking lot
---- about those
-------------who would
orchestrate
------ shadowy claims
and did not wish me to
-------- think again

important to
-------- deprivation and
those who wouldn’t
--- consider
the way home
--------or even
-----water to the poor

they committed crimes
for the want
--------- to crucify this
-----system and to
question which
--------- of the elite could
keep them humble

women who watch ballet

i never could
----remember
the details of
-------the liberation
----- quiet
played over in my mind
-----yet it gives deniability

i lean in as i
-----tell them i’m in
--love with the dictator
in front of us
----some people dance

beyond the balcony
you could
-------read the suffering
---wrapped in the stars

we made progress
----- in the century
before
-- but a series
of characteristic
troubles
-----left us worse
off than we used to be

we wondered if we
----should go back
----and actually ponder
the other side
--but looking over the
myth was beyond mentioning

failure to explain

words are prettier than
-----remembered
----------------ineffectual
to move beyond love
but a good place to start

needed help ----- running off
--------- like lost children
-------------------------way down
we wanted connection in the soul

that sort of thing
------- invented
----------- in books by dead guys
and that guy with the guitar

but we settled for
------- baptism in
----------- the parking lot

------- placed together
where all might be
shaped by perception
------------- and failure to explain

sometimes it is hard to stumble
----- into the darkness
------- that sort of thing more
dreaded than encouraged

but the extent
------ known from the beginning
shouldn’t control discovery