vignettes

girl moved toward me
    slowly
        as if she understood
                  the division
   of the world

         i wanted to be
                          worthy
     but it was more
complicated than that

     i have a
             weakness for
nonsensical reasoning

     conquest of imagination
                  eerie
                               odd
     girl exemplifies both
                 the natural and given

 i was left
              gasping
     but willing to
                      endure deformity
           for the sake of
                      passion

     struggling to survive
                in vignettes of
mindless exploitation

currently reading...

The Ampersand Review, Vol. 4
The Green Lantern Chronicles, Vol. 1

our daily poverty

the irregularities
within us
confirm what is to
be gained
from the paradox

demands of
life common
prove more expansive
than the people
imagined

negotiations are
lost and meaning is
replaced with
prosperity

invisible lines
are out of place and
we wonder if
they ever existed

nothing we have today
can compare
to the trust
wrung out and lost
by heads of state

though occasionally
rumored to be hiding
in the slums

the catch

we longed for something
               beautiful
that would encourage
         enlightenment
                  confessing that for
               so long we
     trusted misrepresented minds

               the scars of
                      deprivation
increasing confusion
                     in the soul
       grew with
           each shadowy enterprise

we sat in
          celebratory silence
   swaying with thought
         waiting for an idea
to make us feel good

we want to be
              invited in
     to that place
where they keep the
             humble
         and love is
not neglected

                 admission is earned
only by those who
               devote time
      to the system
             of poverty
      a lifetime spent
                hoping the story is true

privilege

           the voices are there
omissions from what
        the rest are taught
                      dominated by
the broad sweep
                 of the past

     we urge them
                to yield
but they are
                   relentless
demanding that the
             false consciousness
    is marked by inequality

           some call it conspiracy
but the minute details
      manipulated by time and space
                  keep us from escaping
   awareness

                  there will be no need
for us
       when depth and understanding
motivate the people
            to restlessness
       and we will fall
                  victim
           to the awakening
of the masses

carpetbaggers

i started thinking about
      how new things
                 become old things
       and how old things
lack wonder and magic

      i asked him if private gain
is an acceptable substitute
                    for wonder
when the heart is really longing
                and the circumstances
       of time
         justifies some terrible fate

he knew the power of
                 planting desire
“some sincerely wanted . . . “
        belief in justice could
                simplify accomplishment

but the rights were
         acquired by the
      dregs of illegitimacy
invoking greed in the process
          and an ideology of violence
     became the norm

Spring

simple reason

later we
     looked up at the
   holes in the sky
and wondered if the
       offenders were brilliant
             or if we were just
    going nuts

        girl pointed at the
distance stretched out
     in front of us
                she wanted me to
      explain the exotic
             with simple reason
but i was nervous and
                    could only make
         small talk

at a loss for
             meaningful remarks
        i stared across the horizon
   hands in the pockets
            and made no mention
   of the inquiry
               or the demolition
                           of relics

walking the corners

             they were
enraged by the
                      accidental touch
        each one able to seize upon
                the belief
                       that desire is to
             be revered
but they chose not to
                        and protest remained
         cut off from encounter
      they courted tradition
                     and boasted largely
          about the
defects of time

what might become

slowly staring at
the vast stretches
daydreamers touch nothing
while questioning the
necessary evil of
ideological demands and
the rights of masters

they could not look upon
the banquet table
without blundering the
industrial apologetics
maintained as truth
for centuries

the center that we
hold in common
restricts our freedom
and will not go away

the dreamers talk nervously
about the possibility of
life beyond the
standard description
and devising strategies
to bring about
ubiquitous change

school

our collective candor

it was not unusual
to go days without
measuring the poverty

we hoped that value
would come
in the retreat

but it felt like
the problem was worse
than it used to be

what she was saying
felt true and i
wanted to believe

love and to love
could bring an end
to the hunting

trying not to bring about
some arrogant thing simply
for the sake of reason

supplementing the guidebook

girl asked if I was
fascinated by the controversy
i didn’t answer
just mumbled and calculated
the distance to the
top of a skeletal tree

fortunes in the
new settlement
are supplemented
by confusion

leaders wanting
us to draw closer
playing with the promise
and rejecting the
present as a fact

i let my eyes wander
like explorers
advancing the familiar
and considered moving
among the settlers
but found my self frozen

odd talent

attempting to protect
the triumph
of dominance
i fidgeted
and stammered about
the mistreatment of
violence and plague

something odd in the
heart of a woman
that makes us believe
quite possibly a calm voice
could be true love

girl got too close
bringing to frenzy
the kinds
of feelings that
“won’t stick”
but the stuff that attracts us
held firm

left exposed
and nearly destroyed
i wondered about this
odd sort of hierarchy
where a smile could have
greater impact than the
response of the crowd
and make it impossible
to bury the dead

bombing campaign

it wouldn’t be unlike
sacrificing ourselves
to others
glory instantly gone
but secure despite
massive bombings

factories set up to
give substance to hundreds
operating on the outskirts
of black-market dealings
a kind of prophecy
realized by those
wired for envy and lust

righteousness is exaggerated
in its explanation
but not for very long
grumbling comes quickly
as disillusionment grows
and we seek refuge
from the urban service

topography

we push along
like ordinary folk
filled with doubts
about the
relative merits of
authenticity

a little difficult
to believe
like stories from
old settlers

evidence
set aside and
taken apart
for the controversy

we grab on to
visions
supported by the
experts
and begin to salivate

hoping that what is
true
can be distinguished
among the strange

souveniers

we might have avoided pedantry
but
we failed to connect

and the people
who dream grew weary

undeclared separations recounted
echoes of books by
dead guys

what we wanted was prettier
than remembered
it is desirable to trade what
we call the soul so played

but for those who worry
there really
wasn’t any hope for integrating
new order
and baser classes at intervals

chasm

he looks out
smiles against the sky
such a viewpoint is subtly alien
but he did his best to
discourage beyond secure
control

i asked him how without
ever hinting that the
actions of interaction do
anything different

hands in pockets
i observe a look that
tells me he’s calculating
enemies
and the distance

it’s a good song
you’d have to hear it

two months and he
lifts his tired daydream
up to the zone of contact
and shrugs

well…it goes…

Currently Reading...

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