Just wanted to thank all the folks who’ve been reading and commenting on the poems lately. It’s gratifying to know that people I’ve never even met are getting to see them and that they’re being read.
It’s the whole reason I do the Dark Matter blog in the first place — to put an ongoing body of work in public for public view. Sometimes it feels downright quixotic, and I’m gladdened when it seems to work.
Heartfelt thanks to all.
A blind woman
accosts me
after the reading breaks up,
refuses to allow me
my convictions, challenges
my view of my own humanity —
seizes me by the arm,
insists I listen —
and all because she didn’t like
the last line of my poem.
“You don’t believe that,”
she implores. “All the rest of your work
says you don’t believe that.”
Maybe she heard something
in my voice
that I didn’t intend to leak, maybe
something only she could hear,
because I’ve questioned that line
a million times before deciding
to let it stand
because it has always made me so uneasy
that I suspect it is in fact
a core truth
that I want to reject
before I have to live with it.
She won’t let go of my arm
but I’m at ease. “We’re going to have to
disagree,” I say, pulling loose.
“I know that’s true — I’m sure
of it.”
“No, no…you can’t!” she says,
louder and louder, over and over.
I step away,
telling myself
that only those most unsure
of their convictions
are this vocal —
but then again,
I chose
to read that poem
and I always read
that poem.
Try angular living —
approach from the side.
Taking things head on
results in television and
a corporate existence.
Do not imagine yourself
a lion or other predator —
orchids make fine familiars
as do hermit crabs and
the common rat.
The hairstyle matters.
Doctor it up with fronds
and stick a Christmas string
in there — no matter that you have
no plug to illuminate them.
When asked for a biography, dissemble.
Demonstrate charity by offering
a lollipop to the questioner
but demand the stick back
after it’s been sucked clean —
recycling, y’know. Watch
responses to the most common
questions — place of birth, siblings.
Choose, perhaps, the life of a saint
or a local practitioner of chiropractic
as a source for details. Whatever you do,
don’t mention motorcycles, or umbrellas —
routine items lead to routine assumptions.
Again: routine items lead to routine
assumptions. Nothing you say
should establish a routine. If you are
an artist, for God’s sake deny it.
If you are an embalmer, stiffen up
and lie right.
The angular life is worth living skewed.
Long term pollution of the mainstream
with your existence pays off. When the rest
die off, you’ll be sitting pretty.
It’ll be a world made for your type.
Dark Matter 