Circuit Breaker

A snap-crackle-pop of shorted circuits

arc and fuse to sputter along some relay,

sending vague electrical impulses

to the hydraulics.  Which raise my arm.

With confidence I tell the teacher

that I forgot what I was going to say.



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10-28-84

Camflauge

8-30-84

They're out there waiting
     wearing khaki and black.
They're out there waiting
     planning ruthless attacks.

Are they armed?  You bet!
     With guns, bombs, and money.
Am I alarmed?  Not yet:
     I'm drinking beer with my honey.

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Comprehend?

 
6-20-84

The T.V. lies before shortsighted eyes
illuminating a discord of news.
Images, talk, dandy interpretations
assure us everything will be just fine.


Eat it up!  Buy the party line!  Believe!
Let the programmers do what they must:
market a vision responsive to needs.
Besides, we can't  consume reality.

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Peter Pan

Wendy left me.
   Tinkerbell,
      where have you gone?
I need your magic.

Captain Hook's
   got the kids
      walking the plank
with I-Pads in hand.

I can't fly!
      not without
strings attached.


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Boxers

The man awakens, hungover,
crawls from bed in a rented room.
Naked, he stumbles to the dresser,
fumbles to open a pack of Pall Malls,
strikes a match, draws and coughs.
What was her name?  Joanne?
Let her sleep.  He pulls on worn boxers, 
passes the mirror, unable to see...

The boy, just twelve, admires his features
through the full reflection of his
mother's dressing mirror.  He wears nothing,
save a new pair of boxer shorts,  a gift
from grandparents to their new young man. 
stiff and fresh and still creased, they
make him feel grown up.  Eager for age
he imagines fulfilling youth's dreams...
 
the man awakens


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copyright 9-19-83