we are all hostages
chained to the wall
wearing the same clothing
every day for 564 endless
recitations of plastic rosary beads
threads slowly unravelling
our simple minds
a Black woman in South Africa
said sanity rested
on seeing two ants in her cell
her tranquility
one day
they were not there
and she carefully
dismantled her blanket
tying single strands
into warmth
for her isolation
eye track rabbit
far form below blends in underbrush
wheeling,
floating
on evergreen peak drafts
eyes pierce a path you are destined
to follow across bare country
in out...in out
a flash of fur
patient, eye circles
above your feeling fleeting form
shadows do not confuse
one eye sees where you've been -
the other knows where you are going
rocks, volcano boulders, valleys and dry river beds
(where you never sleep)
old latent images
thrive to harbor your grieving desire
your shelter search takes on immediacy
as energy adrenaline wanes
wings fold with forgiveness,
trusted talons thrust
eye dive
with one last burst
you take evasive action
among wild berries
their sweetness a faint taste
my sharpness tears you away from earth
into another world
give me a tie to terrorism
so i can file a suit tailored
by pure fabrication
woven on time’s loom
lucky bamboo said i’d find you here
fit to be tied to anything
where spirit is good
matter is nature
spinning on its axis
breaking the tie
into patterns,
endless knot
one line
undertime, inside time’s mystery
time is only the past and future
not the present
sharing information with agencies
let me introduce myself
married to consumption
my name is fear
an acronym for Face Everything And Recover
consolation
my timid friends say it indicates
Fuck Everything And Runaway
the bigger the obstacle the bigger the joy
one does not need a compass in the land of dreams
‘operating instructions for plants’
growth flow initiation
dispense resistance
correct motives
patient generosity
honor receptive side of warrior nature
We contemplated vast
silent emptiness on 9.11
“No language, no culture,”
Ahmed sang sitting on Sahara dunes
shooting stars played celestial tag
Strange but true elements of fear,
double edged messages, disinformation,
misinformation, bias, lies,
half-truths, whispers, paranoia,
irrational transmissions were issued
by government authorities
in every language on a spinning blue space marble
Human brains overflowed with data
Therapies in triplicate,
were issued to the populace.
Their remote control device was broken,
Too many channels.
Instant replay seared their consciousness
forever and ever and ever down all the daze
We meditated as peaceful people chewed,
swallowed and digested daily distributed
high concentrated dosage of wisdom,
clarity and insight
Distance, health, balance,
harmony, forgiveness, peace of spiriti sanctus
Scholars educated at the finest
universities and institutes of erudite
study started speaking
Latin
telling stories
about the rise and fall of civilizations
Oral stories written before their time
with hieroglyphics and cave pain paintings
Caves were full of survivors
Candles sales were brisk
“A tisket, a tasket, we need a casket,”
sang multi-lingual refugee children
Historians, political scientists,
talk show experts, taxi drivers,
fortune tellers, beauticians and morticians
took calls on their hot line
The number of callers increased exponentially
Suicide search and rescue teams were put on alert
Citizens packed hospital emergency rooms,
Medical schools increased graduation classes
to meet growing manufactured need as
demand outstripped the supply of fear and consumption
“What happens when they run
out of (in)security control programs?”
a child asked their mother
She was the mother of all answers
mercenary
lost a piece of jade
wife moved to colorado
nobody wears halloween costume
full moon flies across black sky
above market roof
where young lovers hide in shadows
a fish seller sleeps
two boys dance in truck lights
a woman with three bags of rice
sits alone near fur coat store
counting a grain
landless chinese man
trailed by wife
tired of the city
labors their belongings
in plastic bags on thin shoulders
incognito nature shadow on the wall
blind man stumbles into sleep
a pile of rubbish at his feet
a man pedals past
husband & wife scavengers
steal night with plastic bags
pillaging trash cans
seeking coal leftovers
they can sell - or better still
use
people rolled in blankets on wood slats
dying of cancer
talk
a broken road their fragment of someone's dream
old grey haired man
observes ghosts
dancing through soft night shadows
curling around dark thick shanghai
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