Saturday, July 20, 2013

tide & moon

tide & moon


i am your tide
you are my moon

you pull the rhythm of me
guide me through darkness

i am faithful in my motion
ceaseless as an elliptical orbit

we are water reflecting sky
incomplete each without the other

i will carry your water dear
if you will again swim in my sea

Monday, July 15, 2013

hoods (justice pt. 2)

hoods (justice pt. 2)


“So the thing that bothered me most was that the condemned man had to hope the machine would work the first time….I’d been struck by this picture because the guillotine looked like such a precision instrument, perfect and gleaming.” Albert Camus, The Stranger, pp. 111, 112


we pretend this is our past
although sullied and something we have moved beyond
our dark history we proclaim

those public executions
hooded and marched onto the platform for guillotine or noose
the faceless justice rendering criminal


the white noise of the machine of justice
this zombie lullaby driving our march

black boys in the hood
a black boy in a hoodie
always up to no good

stand your ground
gun them down
black and brown

these living dead should haunt us
doomed caged cast aside instead

Sunday, July 14, 2013

justice

justice

For TM, July 14, 2013


justice is a crystal ball
not a brick thrown

it is a promise
of this will be

there will be no need
for tears shed in mourning

justice is a hand extended
and not an open wound

justice is the final mirror
for everyone anywhere to see

justice is a whisper
justice is a shout

justice is a fist raised
justice is a head bowed

justice is a statue
justice wears a blindfold

but in the hands of humans
justice is a noose

justice is a hand cuff
justice is a prison cell

justice is a hollow cry
justice is a bitter lie

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

broken heart (walking in the rain)

broken heart (walking in the rain)


Gertrude: O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain
Hamlet: Oh, throw away the worser part of it,
And live the purer with the other half.
Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 4


i dreamed of temporary tattoos
walking on the beach & towering cities
i swear to god i dreamed of you

people speak of broken hearts
and i suppose my heart is broken
but it seems to me it has been erased

i am a tongue that no longer tastes
finger tips that cannot feel a thing
eyes & ears trapped in a dark box


i often see two women walking
both white-haired and rail thin

they seem almost too frail to stand
walking with shared determination

the shorter woman holding the elbow
of the taller and weaker companion

i have no idea who these women are
life-long friends or sisters or lovers

but i know with all lucid certainty
that they have each other entirely

that tugs at the memory of my heart
lying on the beach we walked together



summers are usually times of drought
but days have been dampened by storms

i often walk in the rain crying because
almost no one notices beneath umbrellas

Monday, July 1, 2013

a couple of brief couplets

a couple of brief couplets


1.

it is not fair
that you’re so rare

2.

be
free