Think about it:
Think about it:
The bizarre strike
of the awkward jest—
the grotesque swat,
his bulbous red nose and complete
disdain for those who follow
Think about it:
A near full pack of Parliament
brand cigarettes on the sidewalk,
partially opened, that I don’t pick up
My mom smoked that brand and,
later in life, Matt smoked them too
Consider:
We may not know a damn thing
about the all knowing, all powerful
monotheistic creator god, if there is one
But we do know this—its spirit, if it
exists, is inordinately fond of beetles
Consider:
I love my daughter and
refused to acknowledge
that she might take sides
She always tries
to do what’s right
Contemplate:
A general, quick to snap at us,
quick to take offense,
in chronic pain most days and
a prickly personality at best—
competent, argumentative, abusive
Contemplate:
We fought even to night over possession
of some strategic waterway— An endless
sun seemed to run backwards that day,
un-harvested corn was as high as our
heads, 8000 of us dead in those fields
Remember:
His arguments though ingenious
weren’t convincing, they vanished
dreamlike in everything and nothing
A rich man’s war, a poor man’s fight,
a succession of the transient present
Remember:
He carries a heavy story like
the blank dullness of a gambler’s
stare just before the horses run
How much loss, how much pain,
how much harshness won’t beat me?
Think about it:
Essences are momentary sensations
in individual minds
Spirit’s a transitory awareness, a flash
When grandpa died he was younger than
I am now, but he’s still older than me
Consider:
With each success we’ll see
some universal in the particular
It wasn’t until my twenties that
I began to situate my sadness,
my stories, my pleasures
Contemplate:
Oh yes, Harry was somewhat wild
and popular in a conventional way
I didn’t much like him or consider
the funny originality of his acts which
weren’t, to be sure, aimed at me
Remember:
Militant monotheism disdains
the variety of free formed lives
Let’s deny the all powerful, fashioned in
the images of humans—it’s not God,
it’s just a bagful of wishes
-June 13, 2020-