Spontaneous Inquiry
Submitted by Maureen Anderson on Fri, 10/26/2007 - 4:35pmI saw a young man on the street outside a coffee shop yesterday. He just sat on a bench, looking up and down the street. I went up to him and asked him what he was thinking about. Startled, he took a little while to spit out, “Oh…I was thinking about a book I’m reading…basically it’s about an author who observes the public reaction to his own work…” He then turned the question on me; I simply said, “I’m thinking about what you’re thinking” and walked away.
Nighttime Blistering
It’s beautiful where the wind blows
Hard and cold
Yet the sun it shows it shows it shows
Let’s duct tape the sun let’s be so bold
‘Cause it’s one instant to the next
That we should revel revel revel
And it ain’t at my behest
That you should fall down, level
Plateau golden dry whispering
The night time is nigh is nigh is nigh
Peel off the skin; I see you blistering
You look like you’re going to cry
The stars aren’t yours to hold
Your sadness grows it grows it grows
Just lay here, let the sand blow over your soul
You’ll feel the darkness; soon you’ll know
Disgusting
Into my bed again,
Where I am a rock and inertia’s fast grip wills me easily into unconsciousness
Well, as close to it as I can get
“If I could sleep forever I could forget everything…”
I’m in bed and I wake up with words, words—
I’m sick of words
Words as imperfect symbols
Demarcating interpretations of the movement through synapses
Buzz buzzing piercing the skin
Rip off this shell
Find things to break
Rage not enough
Glass splicing the beautiful sound of shattering on concrete (bits of shell)
Cigarette butts, cheap pee, and rats that scurry
Is it via instinct or training of the rats that when my proximity perfectly pronounces itself
I have an instant of influence over them?
It’s true communion when I keep an unfamiliar rhythm
I’m very slowly anticipating
Head down, throwing bottles, no one cares
Back to unity with appropriations of acceptable conduct
Conducting a silent formless non-credent pulsating reverberation
With feet that are not my own
On a sidewalk built for the everyman
Who is he? No one knows—“he was a most peculiar man”
“…He lived all alone within a house
within a room, within himself…”
Gaseous gases—I can’t help but breathe them,
But how many waves, signals pass through me every instant
So uninhibited
I cannot control man’s inventions
Can competition fuel moral autonomy?
How ‘bout Uranium? It produces infinite fission—
Only found in isotopes,
Not a real metal,
It must be extracted
“Hell, Sputnik ain’t got nothin’ on us, Roger.”
The Spirit of Columbia’s Discovery suggested that insulation can be dangerous, and greatness requires great risk
But this instant’s our onlyOpportunity and
“One giant leap for mankind” can’t save a little girl from starving—
Or a missal from destroying a silent spring night in a city dry, dry, dry
Father and I looked on real-time, the first time the action could be seen
Instantaneously: three, two, one; lights, camera, action!
I think he had had just one stroke, then
We watched ourselves act in the names of freedom and
The eradication of terrorists
We’re just moving rubble around
Autocatalysis wasted energy wasted space wasted matter
Crumbling, disintegrating,
Earth burning, sucking up all the oxygen in the atmosphere
Now that little girl can’t even breathe
What are our fundamental rights as human beings?
“…you’ll have fun, fun, fun, ‘till your daddy takes the T-bird away”
Black Hawks, fighter jets, diamond formation, Thunderbirds, eagles,
Carrion Comfort, playing dead, passed out, cracked earth, gaps growing,
Cockroaches for billions of years,
Spike-forming tessellations dizzy sparkling Broadway and9th street
Shattered glass wearing into sand castles for crabs and seaweed
Red tide, hypoxia, toxins, dead fish, upturned horseshoes, and flies swarming, oh my!
And the sky is falling! Tigger, Piglet, Mr. Rabbit
Oh, hello,Alice —
Dreaming, were you?
None of it was real…Guess you never became a queen after all…
And you were so sure you’d find all the answers when you got to the eighth square
Within the confuddled confines of yourself
“The only question is how far down the rabbit hole do you want to go?”
Vacuums, space, infinity, entropy, order, unity, string theory
“I can remember best things which happened the week after next”
You have one chance to get everything right and you must create one perfect memory—that’s your heaven
What would you choose?
Of all the stars, a dying star was chosen to make a wish upon
You can pay to name a star, ya know?
We Americans own the galaxy
Galaxy Lanes Bowling Alley—Nick, Annie, James, Tabitha, Jamie, Lauren
Bye, guys
I escaped fromCape Coma , Florida
I did not escape myself
At least there was a decent “J-Bird” sandwich and good coffee place inParadise
Where Father rested, comatose, sweating—
“Find some sugar, put it in his mouth, and keep him from choking on his tongue!
Quickly—dial 911 and keep that dog from barking!”
Expectation
Close both your eyes and open your mouth,
Try not to drown, try not to drown
Minnows swarming surround you, feel all them eat you
Feasting smiles entertained too soon will disappear