prodigal

Mine is not the loneliness

of seasons, publicly proclaiming a belief in faith. Mine

has achieved the highest academic rank

a professorship of sorts

that vows, openly and often,

long and intensive academic,

specialized knowledge. I know

what skill it takes,

what zymogen, what proem

the dark room likes. What tobacco

of concise biographical kept

the Charleston smoke-house still

from the wild dreams of sharecroppers.

During "Jeopardy" the man

in the horned rimmed glasses answers

and is adept at memory. I choose

instead to recall, since recollection

gives lavishly and foolishly

to extraordinary wonder. Sister say

that being Black is like being on

rice paper, crisp

with tall lettering. Distichous, stylized

human calligraphy

with a host of unreasonable passwords.

She says it's best to not

keep all your jewels in one place.

A cupboard perhaps; a cool place in the ground

A box that locks then sings from beneath the dirt

the songs of dead lips calling. There still

pulling the rings from the bottom

were the Titanic went quickly. I am comforted to know

that glitter was present, before the howls.

One bracelet still attached to a femur

an armpit holds, the held

tattoo's of Auschwitz. The crustaceans,

in their hunt for tomorrows meal,

shant notice.

Reviews

[Ed Hart]

i think the crustaceans are hunting for their next bite, and haven't yet heart of tomorrow...i can't imagine what proems your zymogen, but even that only gets you halfway to zeno's house...glitter of diamonds and dynasties decorate the ocean floor, egyptian tombs and robber barons decorate the land, equally places to be lonely in the midst of many

[W.k.kortas]

The notion of memory compared to recall, the smoke-house of sharecroppers and "stylized/human calligraphy"--the layering of this piece is awesome in the orginal sense of the word. It would be simple enough to disregard the final images as man's foolish faith in the trinkets and baubles of this world, and there is some of that here I suppose, but then there is the straightforward line " i am comforted to know/that glitter was present , before the howls." The glitter of our greatest triumphs, the tattoos marking our greatest failings? Well, the crustacean is simply hungry, and pays it all no mind. It is up to us to recall. Sometimes I read your work, and I am simply helpless.

[Corset]

Unfathomable where these thoughts come from, buried treasure at the bottom of the deep blue sea, epic romance, the titanic, but he died like a Popsicle stuck to the side of a roof tin, and she was left to carry on. (I cried for years over that movie, if you are ever in need of a good cry, that and Somewhere in time run a foot race for saddest flicks of all time. "Reeeeeccchhhhaaaaarrrrdd" ) I can't imagine, I never want to imagine unsinkable, where all those poor souls became Lobster bisque? ( what do lobsters eat?)

[jacob erin-cilberto]

a professor of loneliness ---i have felt at times that i have had a P.H.D. in it...

or maybe stupidity and naivety...

i really like all of your images and parallels in this...I am a crustacean, i think.

[Lizardo]

I really like the opening line and the poem itself, everything around it is really good, it's like it has its own atmosphere, this is really one great poem