height, inches. daylight, orbits

-

death of a rabbit

tick tock, I am afterward

-

Coming Soon!

moments,

you, me, them

-

named how?

unnamed, unmeasured

I

a drop, a grain

atom of the universe

I,

universe of atoms

belongings crowd my back

monitor light assaulting glass lenses

behind,

treated-mahogany bass drum, keyboard, laptop, suitcases, leather shoes,

dry-clean shirts—

slacks, ties

water-logged artifacts towered, crushing air

around our Room-less roommate

unobtrusive, he huddles in the couch, comforters, whatever dry

All behind,

behind me

Wet towers suffocate

novel sentences unfit,

Cannot fit—

noun, adjective, joiners wedged

No room

no money

no money, in this

no money, for lights

Oh, Monitor, how harsh upon these eyes

how late,

I must quit

lantern pitches light, static-orange

That television grandmother tossed

once the tube fizzled out

night, from bed

room-window pantomiming childhood

bright, stare long enough

applause emerges—

laughter, instrumental queue, monologue

worlds untouched,

boxed, static

Room-window glows

forearm, abdomen, limbs

caged immensities — the head, the chest

thoughts mimic breathing

eased; in, out

steadied,

unsteady

wickedness breeds selfishness

removed, naive

These traditions

boys equipped

nails, ball-bearings, backpacks

from Oregon

to Boston,

I weep

Perhaps, you do not understand how taxes help sustain our infrastructure or how they empower people who, in effect, help build our economy. Maybe you do not see that your taxes provide my father government assistance for food and shelter and his hospital visits for his mental illness and kidney failure. Maybe you do not see how your money helps pave those golden roads you prefer to drive on every day; that money further ensures your tires do not blow out.

In Arizona, where my father sleeps, the streets are cracked, dilapidated due to people refusing to add more taxes. It appears as if a bomb of some substantial size was dropped upon the city.

And the children owning next-to-nothing, family surviving solely off of food stamps—those children need education. Public school offers this opportunity.

Do you recall libraries? Benjamin Franklin founded these because he realized the poorer classes were empowered through knowledge. They accessed books and were self-taught. They started businesses from the ground-up. They established the wealth of this country.

When you call 911 because your grandmother is not breathing—when she has no pulse—when your house is ablaze, your belongings consumed in uncontrollable flames, who is there to protect you? Who paid the servicemen their salaries?

Be you rich, pay your share—pay a percentage equatable to those less fortunate. Be you poor, pay your share—utilize these privileges; empower yourself—your children, your successors.

Maybe you do not see it, but I do. Taxes made my existence possible. They allowed my father and mother to live appropriately so that they could meet and create me.

I am grateful for millions of Americans who worked hard for me. They worked hard for you.

We are all racing toward the same inevitability, regardless of class, stature, creed, or capacity.

Thank you, strangers. I will return the favor.

scatter, frenetic, unbound

absorbed,

human eyes imagine color

without perception, brilliant pinks, blues, greens—

cease to exist

unheeded travel;

dying cosmic giants burned into weightless, heat-absent black

if we blink out

who witnesses our light?

–

from a hospital bed,

I perceive shadows, warring particles

scattered, frenetic, unbounded

Devices capture, release, diminish

Urgent Care cries dissolve, rinsed in time

Body firm to carpet
level where
air meets

Withdrawn
uninvolved
son

Soles play here
loosed
earthen materials

blinds, lampshade, vase

moth wings flutter

panicked, glass cell

hit! sputter, hit

refracted lamp-light alerts the call

the search

the warmth

autonomously, throat-chords strum:

“Nuclear Might”

“We Are A Threat”

self-entitled aggressor,

earn what you deserve

Un, frightened child

“What has punk rock done for us? Did it defeat Reaganism and Thatcherism and end the Cold War? Has it brought us social justice? Did it smash the state, prevent in any way the 12 years of the Imperial Bush dynasty, galvanize youth, subvert the dominant paradigm, or for one minute prevent the total commercialization of culture and the chemical digitalization of music that happened under its watch?”

petty shifts,

words make

ears distort

Hive-mind: “for a cause!”

its successor scrambles, a blind infant seeking unheard sounds,

more shifts, such petty shifts

What has anything I created done for anyone?

brash, misguided inquiry