| POETRY BY JOSEPH MOCKUS r.kv.r.y. literary journal |
The world is broken
into those who smoke
opium and those who don't
and those who would
but lie awake at night
instead to compensate
their reckless dreams
left lingering watchful
beyond the window
A system of despair replaced
the certainty of youth and now
the sky breaks into voices
but the seductive tongue unknown
In Xanadu I left my car
and walked until the sun began
its daily stare across the bloodless sky
into those who smoke
opium and those who don't
and those who would
but lie awake at night
instead to compensate
their reckless dreams
left lingering watchful
beyond the window
A system of despair replaced
the certainty of youth and now
the sky breaks into voices
but the seductive tongue unknown
In Xanadu I left my car
and walked until the sun began
its daily stare across the bloodless sky
work hard in the hot
get drunk with people I like
and watch the phases of the moon
recycle in the clean night air.
this is what makes
america great, plain
simple words inside
short flat thoughts.
Unemployment
the president doesn't have to worry
about the car
whether or not
the transmission'll lock.
whether to sell it
to make the rent,
whether or not
it'll start
when I go to sell it
ALL QUIET ON THE OCCLUDED FRONT
you can fuck up someone's
forever by the choice of verb
and you can control
that ultimate word by continuing
to live.
you can
bury yourself in the language of explanation
or speak the blade
and leave.
ECLIPSE
where I can go
without my imagination
an absence
with nothing missing
where no thing slows or stops
where nothing moves
where no image intrudes
no anxious voice
and only the deepest cells continue
their slow carnal work