Pretty Bird

1/11/08


"Pretty Bird"

She's crazy
or homeless
or both
I thought she was a man
with a mowhawk
but she is a woman
with a ponytail
tearing apart the tall plant
that separates
the 'Safeway'
parking lot
from the street
occasionally
she yells something
I can't understand
but mostly she appears
to be hard at work
separating
the tall stalks
as if she were searching for something
lost
then hacking at it again
tearing
off a piece
and using it
to hack some more
she stops long enough
to spit a large disgusting blob onto
the end
of the piece
she tore
then
she bashes some more
bash bash bash
all her strength
and then reasons with someone
who is not there
she could be me
or you
if we
had no people
if it turns very dark
so dark people felt it was
contagious
what if our sorrows
like hers
had been viewed
like whooping cough
everyone running
to save themselves...
left you
alone
to reason with
and abuse
a plant
in the parking lot
at Safeway.

Temporary Care

1/10/08

I sit in the old
minivan
holding the old
latte
waiting for the old
baby
to wake.
We are in the parking lot
again
we are in the parking lot a lot.
Todays parking lot is at the doctors office
in the poor town
near the teetering on the edge town
in which we live.
Its odd that here,
in the current
murder
capitol
of America,
the buildings are all brand new.
It is a
cement
tent
city
thrown up tout sweet
by corporate
forbes-list
free-from-woe
never-go-there
men.
Thrown up
to quickly
leach
the last
from the least.
These big cement squares
hold big business wears
at prices these
citizens
can't refuse.
No, really.
They can't refuse,
refuse:
suck them quick
then let them crumble
the buildings and
the people.
I turn my ring around:
diamonds in.
I will be the only mother
wearing them in
the waiting room
of the baby's doctor
in the bad part of town
where my insurance
sends us
(ends us).

....Baby's still still
I have to wake him soon.
He'll have to get a shot,
maybe,
more money
for the silent
Oz.
Poison: to save him they
say.
He still doesn't speak.
Save him with poison
and be greatful.
I have to wake him,
poor thing.