Last night, after mid-night,
there was pounding at our door,
a half-dressed woman pleading to lay down,
a cockroach crawling from her blanket,
a small child by her side:
barefoot, in only underwear,
clutching a scratching kitten.
“We’ll find them a place to sleep,”
the young officer said.
Today, an escaped parakeet,
soft, blue, feathery down,
camped out in the fireworks section
of Beaumont Krogers,
where we captured him
and brought him home
to a guilded cage.
Whose Keeper am I anyway?
Let that hand fly
don’t beg awkwardly anymore
why put up with protests
on a monday afternoon
in a crowded grocery store
don’t wait til later
for the love of God
spank the little dictator
and what better place
could there possibly be
than surrounded by strangers
next to your kid’s favorite cereal
in aisle three
My brain is full of thoughts that aren’t mine. It’s like I moved into a house full of furniture I don’t like but I just can’t throw it out.
Could it all be unraveling? How has it not already? He’s
only setting the world on fire with the streams of hot
vitriol pissing from his mouth and the
flaming tongues of his minions. Sometimes,
exhausted from the fear and fury, I
forget how long life can be, how nothing is
endless.
I remind myself there are millions of us
inching toward his doorstep.
She sits—the girl with teal hair—
weaves a wonderland
in her head: cats striped
like jerseys with green glass
for eyes. They surround her
as magic as magpies
as loyal as locks.
Her dress waves in wind
a corduroy frock that embraces
her form but never
confines. She strides
barefoot over hills
under a randy spring
sky. Adventures roll in
like the tides—vines that have no ends
moons that have no beginnings
thoughts that never
blend. She stalks dreams
like a calico panther pouncing
lifting her paws and finding
sunflower stems with faces
for petals—their mouths spill
riddles rushing over
thick skulls
uncontained.
A series of found poems, Part 1:
I.
Qualified Immunity: How it protects Law Enforcement Officers.
Impudence: this crime could be committed by a Slave in a hundred different ways, and depended much upon the temper and caprice of the overseer as whether it was committed at all.
The monopoly on the legitimate use of violence is what defines modern government.
He could create the offense whenever it pleased him
The statute authorizes deadly force “in effecting an arrest or in preventing an escape from custody” if the officer “reasonably believes” it is necessary in order to “to effect the arrest and also reasonably believes that the person to be arrested has committed or attempted to commit a felony…or may otherwise endanger life or inflict serious physical injury unless arrested without delay.”
A look, a word, a gesture, accidental or intentional.
Oklahoma state law makes it a felony to touch a police officer even off duty and out of uniform.
II.
In this case there were all the necessary conditions for the commission of the crime charged:
Two short tempered men Combustible mixture Alcohol and ego Inconclusive fight neither seriously injured Police arrive However One of them [bar fighters] Produces a police credential He is allowed to handcuff the other [his opponent] Place him under arrest for a felonious assault On an [off duty] law enforcement officer
III.
Then I found, too, that there were puzzling exceptions to this theory of slavery, in the fact that all black people were not Slaves, and all white people were not masters.
Hey Jude, I forgot to tell you
That’s there’s something wrong with the world
The make up and all the made up people
Are artificial to what’s real
The sunshine and the good times are realistic to those who fill
In all the blank spots
In between the lines
False morals have created
But there is still space
And Plenty of grace
For those who find what’s real
Just a little boost just a pick-me-up
like a kiss from the wife at lunch
or the baby saying Daddy into the phone
while I’m far away teaching just something
to reinforce the dam to lock the door
and lock it again just a safety net in case
the tightrope snaps in case the bottom falls out
in case the shit goes down just a stress ball
ready to burst between my fingers
just another night of instant sleep
another morning of dragging ass
just something else to keep track of
just something else to choke on
