it’s all part of the daily;
wake up,
be alive –
go for a walk and
see a dog, maybe
a baby –
someone yells somethin’ and you
walk right on by –
nobody on the street ever said
anything worth worrying about,
now did they?
it’s all part of the routine,
part of careful planning –
few hours for work,
few for eating,
and remember to be alive.

in the quarries they
hack and mine and
blast to bits
what makes us us –
in the quarries we
find everything we need
find everything we want
and, having it –
find no recourse but to sell it all –
in the quarries we
dig until there’s
nothing left;
happy, sad, or simply confused
with all our money
and all our empty.

is it the hand that punishes
or the heart that forgives?
the farmer
laboring for seventy years –
for his family,
a good family –
the mother who
carried and birthed and
reared and loved –
or the Marine who
guns them down?
is it available only
in English?
is it the movement of weight?
are there no strong men
in a world with gorilla and oxen?
are there no strong men
in a world without weakness?
is there no strength at all?

eat a rainbow,
eat a river,
eat love and
onions, too –
eat enough to keep you laughing
laugh enough
to keep you
You.

here,
held,
tasted,
smelled,
all in
instant
all in
moment
here,
there,
gone,
not even
memory
can hold
it all
not even
longing
can undo
living –

they found god upstate
face-down in a river,
they gathered up
what was floating
and seeded it in a lab;
ate what flesh they grew –
they
guess what it’s dreaming about;
you can’t know a dreamer
if you don’t know the dream.

you take all the pieces you can
and find a many along the way.
Some resolve into
pattern:
slight continuations in
warp and weft;
small shadows
on bright waters –
some pieces are meaningless
unfortunately
mixed in from
someone else’s puzzle –
someone else’s problem –
get as many that fit together and
make some blurry image –
find some strange inkling.

in two thousand years
they’ll be native
to the indoors;
comfortable without
draft,
thriving in
false light –
minimally watered,
in a too-small pot
in two thousand years
they’ll be native
to the indoors;
and so will we