Tuesday, July 24, 2012

"Buddhists"- A Poem


My stomach twists
Like a bendy straw in the 
Grasp of a little child
It churns when I think of how
Awful
I must be 
Maybe if I went to someone
Spoke my thoughts out loud
Maybe if I went for a seven day walk
Like a Buddhist would
Maybe if I became Buddhist
It would be easier
Because Buddhists can't kill things
It's against their faith
The thing is
I don't have any.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Moments

“Those moments before a poem comes, when the heightened awareness comes over you, and you realize a poem is buried there somewhere, you prepare yourself. I run around, you know, kind of skipping around the house, marvelous elation. It’s as though I could fly.”
-Anne Sexton

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

"Helplessness Blues" by Fleet Foxes



I was raised up believing I was somehow unique
Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes, unique in each way you can see
And now after some thinking, I'd say I'd rather be
A functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me
But I don't, I don't know what that will be
I'll get back to you someday soon you will see

What's my name, what's my station, oh, just tell me what I should do
I don't need to be kind to the armies of night that would do such injustice to you
Or bow down and be grateful and say "sure, take all that you see"
To the men who move only in dimly-lit halls and determine my future for me

And I don't, I don't know who to believe
I'll get back to you someday soon you will see

If I know only one thing, it's that everything that I see
Of the world outside is so inconceivable often I barely can speak
Yeah I'm tongue-tied and dizzy and I can't keep it to myself
What good is it to sing helplessness blues, why should I wait for anyone else?

And I know, I know you will keep me on the shelf
I'll come back to you someday soon myself

If I had an orchard, I'd work till I'm raw
If I had an orchard, I'd work till I'm sore
And you would wait tables and soon run the store

Gold hair in the sunlight, my light in the dawn
If I had an orchard, I'd work till I'm sore
If I had an orchard, I'd work till I'm sore
Someday I'll be like the man on the screen

Photo Journals




Wednesday, July 4, 2012

"Cat Lady Suicides"- A Poem


some study somewhere
claimed, ("said only" according to
my communications teacher)

Cat Lady Suicides

how tragic- how 
light
a rise in death in being alone
with windows
and lots of sleeping fur
but the need for your own blood
because of society

how cat-
astrophic

i had always liked them 
with their outdated moth clothes
and cracked smiles and
flyaway foggy-monday colored hair

they had always seemed
content

but these "studies"
would argue with statistics spitting
and facts flying

i never liked them.

"Punnett Squares"- A Poem




It was a dull day in February 
She told us how she had a student 
During blood tests 
(back when they were allowed)

But Mrs. Doe, why doesn't it match? 
And she told us how she looked at her and said
Maybe check your work,
you may be incorrect.

Avoid, avoid
She said the girl went home
Said 
Mom, why does it not match?
Said
Dad, it doesn't make any sense.

They said the unbelieved truth
And while she said this 
The class was quiet
We all were imagining

The girl walking home,
Her mind darting, breath quickening

Wondering why 
They never had any photo albums.
And how lying is such an easy skill
They should teach it in trade school.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

"Lifedance" by Charles Bukowski


the area dividing the brain and the soul
is affected in many ways by
experience –
some lose all mind and become soul:
insane.
some lose all soul and become mind:
intellectual.
some lose both and become:
accepted.

"Aberrant"- A Poem


I try to explain
the words won't form
my mouth asks for help
like the air is dense with itself
so full of itself

and if it were winter 
things might be different
things might be better

but the clock just kept ticking
ticking
and i just kept thinking, considering
about how people need 
so much
people need each other
to cling to 

and for some aberrant 
reason 
I can't end things anymore
they just go on and on, 
then they start up again

like those roller-coasters 
you see at the amusement park
that I never ride.