folks

by

according to a reliable source….

now most folks
the ones who are
reasonable
will point out
that the little swirls
you see on a pond
at the end of the day
are nothing more than
fish foraging for food
but
i have it
on good authority
that those little swirls
are in fact
angelic in nature
you see
when angels get tired
from their daily chores
of answering prayers
and such duties
as prescribed
the tips of their wings
strike the pond’s surface
that’s just enough
earthly contact
to make them
want to go home

by

why can’t i kick the seat…

 

i didn’t ask
to go on this trip
lashed to this car seat
that not even houdini
could get out of
and you’re telling me
honey
don’t kick the seat
what the hell
oops…
that just slipped out
i heard dad say it the other day
and it seemed to fit my situation
you know
cuz
hell is that place where you can’t
do what you want to do
and
must do what you’re told
like me in this open air solitary confinement
with airplane sounds
all around
announcements i don’t understand
and when i stretch out
with two small toes
you say
honey
don’t kick the seat
now what am i suppose
to do way up here
read the paper
or do a crossword puzzle
or two
well since i can barely talk
you know that ain’t gonna happen
now i’ve been told not to yell
or sing too loud
since the folks all around
are sleeping hard
with sound surely from a disney movie
and god knows my little voice
could break the spell of their beauty rest
i’ll grant you that
but given the brevity of my youth
and that i’m so damn cute
why can’t i kick the seat

by

will work for intelligent life…

excuse me mister
mister
you don’t have to turn away
i ain’t asking for a handout or anything
i ain’t like the folks you see outside the grocery store
on their cellphones
drinking starbucks
asking for your spare change
and i hope you don’t mind too much
that i interrupted what you’ve been thinking ’bout
cuz i’ve been told
that such direct conversations
are very disturbing to some folks
but i was just  recalling when i studied candide in high school
oh..i know
i’m supposed to be illiterate
my being homeless and such
but that’s just a sales pitch some folks use
to tell you the truth
not many of us really want to be out here on the street
but any ways..
i keep thinking about dr. pangloss
you know the
this in the best of all possible worlds guy
so when i was reading it
i thought what kind of fool is this
who would ever believe
that given every thing that went down
he could continue to say
the same old damn tihing
then i was reading about escalante
in that paper you threw away earlier
now there’s a man who
really got his students ready for life
and continues to teach in his own way to others
but jealousy proved to be his portuguese inquisition
now he’s just another victim of health care in the country he served
just like all those folks who came back from vietnam
just another hero whose song has been forgotten
with the birth of another war
and lord knows the american people
are very good at friendly fire
but don’t get me started on that
i’m really just concerned about how intelligent people like you
could believe that this country is going to be just like it was
that
best of possible world syndrome again
cuz when i was in the library i googled this article
that said things ain’t going to be the way they were
but maybe there’ll be an earthquake during the hanging
like for pangloss and we’ll just get flogged financially again
so here’s what i don’t get
if religion is the foundation of this country
how the hell can people let
children die
because they couldn’t afford a doctor
or they waited too long
because they needed to feed the child first
why would we treat them like cunegonde
it just doesn’t make sense to me
does it
to
you