20 June, 2012

Hoods and Handcuffs


I couldn’t believe it
these poets speaking from memory
mesmerized by their memorizations
recited enacted and performed
poem to memory
memory to poem
and then I remembered
that all my poems are memories
put to word
and put to death
remembered
this is where I tear up the page
and trust the poetry within
leaping into the boiling waves
forgetfulness is an illusion
we remember everything
that we ever remembered
chiseled into membranes
locked away down long dark halls
stored there in the basement of our mental
albums of hopes lost and meant-wells
songs first heard
kisses that really did last forever
and the lovers that didn’t
my mind runs marathons
around these synaptic pathways
every step of the way
my body carried the weight
but my poetry carried the meaning
we think in stanzas
my memory is poetry
line breaks
patterns
chaos
observing
discovery

And yet inward only
only serves you
no servant of truth
remains voiceless
in the silence of fear
the time for words on pages
has been lost to glowing screens
we must speak louder
to have our truth heard
if corporations are people
and corporations always put
profits before people
then it’s time we all ascend
increase our value
and become prophetic
profit margins falling
puts prophets like you and me
before corporate personhood
but I’m no messiah
no Miss Iowa either
just a madman with a mind full of dirty poetry
trying to bring back the dead
one lost relic at a time
knowing I have lost nothing
comes from realizing it was never mine
and this solitude will kill me in the end
dying to remember
the memories
of my
truth
and that is the poetry
of the
prophets

a memory



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