poetry!
Message to a Future Child
our first meeting, here, I
legs a-frog on a carpet green
hands measured by a Jenga block
building a conglomerate of Lego Set No 4166.
or
our first meeting in an arthritic car
as I asked about cousins times three and four
relatives multiplied and divided and conjugated.
I have thought of you since then.
you, in the space of an argument
when all is silent though the air is full
and what follows is
a denial, an avowal, the never of you.
but
a pause
between hand and ledge or book or shelf
the unexpected assumption of you
and
I construct you
the components of myself
an assembly line of one for one
to you I pass my uneven eye
my parched breath and sly smile
my joy my weightlessness
and I will whisper to you in all the languages of myself
ai ai
an indigo love
or
do I pass to you fever and bone-yearning
waking nightless sleeping dayless
through youth and lineage
viscera in the mindscape
or
unexpected synthesis
-----------------------------
Spice Collectors
in the market of multitude:
merchants of grace and artifice,
purveyors of fine glance and powdered nice,
traders of experience, ritual, ceremony
of unknowing exchange
through heightened breath, the careless jostle
in bedroom thoroughfares and rioting parks.
and us, as spice collectors
with daisy heart but ivy mind
and bistre in the closes of eyelids,
alizarin madder stained ribcages.
we wait for
the smithy sharpness of grass-blades
tasting it pooling into salt that
rests in the curve of arm and shoulder.
the metal breathlessness during falling
that congeals into fingertip-rubbed saffron
that scrapes the ground afterwards
ghosting an alizarin imprint.
these we carry with us
sense in spices in the memory
of the body familiar.
-----------------------------
April 20th, 2181
I.
Dear Sir
We thank you for entering this submission.
However though we would like to suggest
A few changes that should be incorporated.
They are but a few minor alterations
And we are of the unanimous opinion
That they would greatly improve the substance
Of the work that you have provided.
We encourage you to complete this revision
In as short a timeframe as possible
So that we will be able to
Edit and compile and publish and distribute.
II.
Dear Sir
We are unable to understand your reluctance.
The requirements and stipulations
The needs of our publication
our society
should be apparent.
Such as yourself should be willing to
accommodate
especially in the light of
the opportunity offered.
We assure you
integrity will be maintained
All of our other contributors have been
satisfied.
We regret that we are unable
unwilling
to publish
unless such changes
as stipulated
have been made.
III.
Dear Sir
We are afraid that we should need be so explicit.
We see in your work that which
obscene
vulgar
dirty
your lines your words your text your phrases
are too thin, no, too transparent, no
what we mean is that
in the body
of your work we can see almost
flesh
heart
truth
profanities
Unacceptable. Incompatible. Anomalous.
We are afraid that we have attempted to negotiate
and we have been unsuccessful
Failure Restart Error
We are afraid that we will be unable to proceed further with you.
We are afraid-
We are afraid-
our first meeting, here, I
legs a-frog on a carpet green
hands measured by a Jenga block
building a conglomerate of Lego Set No 4166.
or
our first meeting in an arthritic car
as I asked about cousins times three and four
relatives multiplied and divided and conjugated.
I have thought of you since then.
you, in the space of an argument
when all is silent though the air is full
and what follows is
a denial, an avowal, the never of you.
but
a pause
between hand and ledge or book or shelf
the unexpected assumption of you
and
I construct you
the components of myself
an assembly line of one for one
to you I pass my uneven eye
my parched breath and sly smile
my joy my weightlessness
and I will whisper to you in all the languages of myself
ai ai
an indigo love
or
do I pass to you fever and bone-yearning
waking nightless sleeping dayless
through youth and lineage
viscera in the mindscape
or
unexpected synthesis
-----------------------------
Spice Collectors
in the market of multitude:
merchants of grace and artifice,
purveyors of fine glance and powdered nice,
traders of experience, ritual, ceremony
of unknowing exchange
through heightened breath, the careless jostle
in bedroom thoroughfares and rioting parks.
and us, as spice collectors
with daisy heart but ivy mind
and bistre in the closes of eyelids,
alizarin madder stained ribcages.
we wait for
the smithy sharpness of grass-blades
tasting it pooling into salt that
rests in the curve of arm and shoulder.
the metal breathlessness during falling
that congeals into fingertip-rubbed saffron
that scrapes the ground afterwards
ghosting an alizarin imprint.
these we carry with us
sense in spices in the memory
of the body familiar.
-----------------------------
April 20th, 2181
I.
Dear Sir
We thank you for entering this submission.
However though we would like to suggest
A few changes that should be incorporated.
They are but a few minor alterations
And we are of the unanimous opinion
That they would greatly improve the substance
Of the work that you have provided.
We encourage you to complete this revision
In as short a timeframe as possible
So that we will be able to
Edit and compile and publish and distribute.
II.
Dear Sir
We are unable to understand your reluctance.
The requirements and stipulations
The needs of our publication
our society
should be apparent.
Such as yourself should be willing to
accommodate
especially in the light of
the opportunity offered.
We assure you
integrity will be maintained
All of our other contributors have been
satisfied.
We regret that we are unable
unwilling
to publish
unless such changes
as stipulated
have been made.
III.
Dear Sir
We are afraid that we should need be so explicit.
We see in your work that which
obscene
vulgar
dirty
your lines your words your text your phrases
are too thin, no, too transparent, no
what we mean is that
in the body
of your work we can see almost
flesh
heart
truth
profanities
Unacceptable. Incompatible. Anomalous.
We are afraid that we have attempted to negotiate
and we have been unsuccessful
Failure Restart Error
We are afraid that we will be unable to proceed further with you.
We are afraid-
We are afraid-