I feel like there’s a lot
of things you say
“no”
to, and “I didn’t know,”
“I’m sorry,” “I didn’t mean
to offend you.”That’s mature, that’s
real mature, that’s
cute
but nonetheless there’s
nothing you can do to
make up for itI don’t even remember
being there, I remember
bits
and pieces, but you
haven’t even tried taking
one of these things.
From the sixth experiment
Bon soir, he said, entering,
or salut.
Little things: qu’est-ce que c’est?On accident, he thought.
And now, trouble.
Confisqué!Say something, they say.
L’elephant qui mange
du beurre.Just a minute, he said,
Je brosse les dents.
Little things: la lun
From the fifth experiment.
Musician,
restless soul,
you, musician, magician,
restless and bleary-eyed,
not slept in days,
wide awake but bleary-eyed,
making your tracks with magic,
your hocus pocus and your fantasies
and your theories,
musician magician,
pressure to perform,
under no pressure,
restless, walking, bleary-eyed,
walking on tracks, tracks with rocks,
rock tracks and hocus pocus,
you magician, you,
musician,
restless soul.
From the second experiment.
This quarter at school I am taking a poetry class. Subsequently, I’ll be writing some poems, and I’ve decided to share some of them throughout the quarter. This poem is for our first poetry assignment. For lack of better title, it shall be called Experiment One: A Man.
A man protects his family from bears.
A man sits on his porch and smokes cigars.
A man walks up steep mountains, but
A man comes home in time for supper.
A man shares memories with his children.
A man shares ice cream with his dog.
A man is very emotional, but
A man sometimes forgets how to show it.
A man sits on his porch and smokes cigars.
A man protects his family from bears.
I have faith, have hope, have love.
What more can one ask for,
But to express these?
And yet, this is what has been taken away.
I have faith, have hope, have love.
Yet to express these would betray
The reason I would at all:
Such a conflict I face within myself.
Does she have faith, have hope, have love,
That until it is just to express
She might wait?
Though painful, she does.
Does she have faith, have hope, have love
That surpasses the vices of man,
That lasts despite
The long and arduous wait we endure?
I have faith, have hope, have love
That she will wait, will hope,
Will love me yet,
Though the distance is so great.
Am I drowning that I cannot speak?
Or is the silence so loud that none can hear?
Sometimes it feels as though my lips
Are tied shut with wires
But it was I who put them there, somehow
Sometimes it feels as though I’m losing
Something I thought was close
But I am letting it grow deeper, somehow
Am I sleeping that I cannot see?
Or is all so dark that none can be seen?
Without glasses
The things on which I used to focus
Are now faded and distant
Without glasses
What is closer is clear
And must be nurtured the same way
Though a time will come when far is clear again
Until then, it is hard to open my eyes