the table reminds
me of ether. the carpet is underfoot. a rickety chair knows liberty. I wasn’t
located early, I was orientated, I was left behind. knowing others, their
skies, their music—it unchains in chains coming backwards. like a foreign man
in a foreign country living his foreign life. an estranged man. a quiet, austere,
unstable man. to meet with faces, so esteemed so leery so crooked. to waver in
faith, to rebuke decency, while needing affection.
the table is messy—jelly
stains, breadcrumbs, filthy mats. a person watches, a tiny roach crawls, a
spider is on the wall. so much an old sofa, an intimate sofa, it has tasted
lust, frustration, calming atmosphere.
a round table a
glass plate, a dove’s intestines. a lamp father bought, left to a woman he
jilted, she holds on to his memory.
in old areas as
ancient souls we conjure up ghosts—we tell tall tales, some come to life, we
never know with certainty. we create stories, sagas to live by, we construct
communities.
left with
religion, a palm of power, furious darkened secrets—lies and crafts, drums and
tribes, haunted by our nightmares.
one asserts
happiness, ignores existential anguish, fights hard to manage his worldview. a
desperate person, overborne, a soul churning butter—by hand or machine, by heights
or dungeons, as long as perception is kept intact—never challenged, more status
quo, more terror to cleave to peace.
life is innocent,
people are unbelief, mastery is for a time. most evolve quickly, laughing in
sunshine, healing from parent figures. or smooth in essence, protected from
midnight, given to a bit of disenchantment.
it’s simplistic
living, dangerous understandings as somewhere in the bayou. things are done
just so, rhythm is excellence, we believe in human excellence. in California a
person is cynic, skeptic, arranged to ask questions. I come to you ignoring you
expecting you to receive me. I stand at a distance, I assert pure objectivity, I’m
a purely subjective understanding. it moves differently. we have standards. we need
to meet others willing to expend everything. like pavement like honey until
mushy and compassionate.
