THE BOMB LEFT SHADOWS
1
the coffee table.
no cake.
no bagels.
in the case.
muggings.
rape.
the national conservancy
takes a family’s
legacy.
everything.
everywhere.
the coffee shops are booming.
the art galleries metastasize.
the liquor store down the street
put prices on nothing.
which pisses me off.
and they know it.
cars repossessed.
swirly birds snipe like bees.
my mother.
my mother has started
telling me
that she loves me.
i forgot that i needed that a long
time ago.
but still.
2
the burger joint down the
street has the kindest people
in the world working in it.
double chili cheeseburger:
five bucks.
chicken nuggets:
two dollars.
i am not a fan of affection
these days.
but, they know things.
seeing them makes me
happy.
3.
when they dropped the bomb in
Hiroshima
the blast left shadows.
i meant to investigate why.
but didn’t.
4.
support your neighborhood bakery.
invest in your local artists.
5.
in the height of the great depression:
people sweat.
harlem boomed.
my jazz was born.
heroin was born.
the bomb came.
and left shadows.
6.
in the height of the great depression:
fdr came to the radio and spoke.
fire side chats.
our president has a vlog on
the internet.
or was it Wilson.
or Truman.
it doesn’t matter.
did you know that our president’s speeches
were
written by a boy?
i wonder if he sucked on sugar
cubes.
in the desert.
7.
blessings in disguise.
8.
i lost my zippo.
i wish me and the ether were
better friends.
it takes strength to care.
i have awoken.
9.
i have stopped tagging the
neighborhood
because it
requires paint.
my intention was to
spot hope.
not paint.
these days
hope is best met
when
crumpled.
10.
victoriamia. i know nothing.
but find comfort in the thought
that you are beautiful.
but know better.
i’m no longer a boy.
i have come to understand who
i am and have made friends with
my strong sense of authorship.
11.
sometimes i feel like my life is
a neverending drunk text or
email i wish i could unsend.
12.
here comes the machine gun.
the mechanism has broken the
agreement.
the hunting ground is barren.
warfare has changed.
you can’t just charge the lines
like a gnarly man anymore.
ask the british.
or the kids with video
games who have grown up
and learned how to make
their war machines obliterate
with the touch of a button.
kaboom.
the palette has evolved.
god bless the brave.
the machine gun has come.
the narcissists are getting
slaughtered.
13.
i am confident.
i can learn anything.
i feel that the only information
that matters is the confidence
of understanding the impotence
of bullshit.
it’s not bullshit if you can learn
how to do it.
like the machine gun.
or the shadows
from Hiroshima.
or my father.
i saw his eyes light up when i
told i believed in language.
of Hiroshima.
of the machine gun.
of warfare.
of the bathroom wall.
of pragmatics.
of resonance.
the information is available to
everyone.
these ideas are not mine.
i know this. i am hopeful.
ether. show me the way.
demonstrate your genius.
show me what you are made of.
put it down. set it off.
like jazz.
like heroin.
like the neighborhood bakery.
like your local artist.
like mathematics.
like grids.
like forced perspective.
like a remote control.
something qwerty.
a pressed button.
14.
paramedes made fun of everything.
15.
witches were martyrs
martyrs were witches.
16.
the jungle will strangle everything.
this is the pallor of immortality.
17.
i am confident because
the shadows sleep with me.
18.
spend bravely.
19.
xenijardin just posted that his holiness,
the dali lama is on twitter.
imagine that.