Junkyard Quote I

"broke two fingers... with a pillow"

food [in progress]

in the house of greed
i put "homestyle beef skillet" on
the highest shelf
night after night, tearing into that bag,
gutting the plastic for all its worth:

carrots in thin shavings
small cylinders called green beans
fat squares of icy meat
brown pucks of frozen flavor--

in seven or so minutes
we can both stuff our mouths
with cheap forkfuls of easy comfort;
contentment, ready-made.

place (in-class)

smoking in bed,
i used to watch the cars come
down the black silhouette
of Clairmont bridge--
the arched spine
of the small town dumped
the cars into the arteries
of Chamblee as i watched,
in high house
with low eyes meeting
their stupidly silent
two-eyed faces.

hodgepodge 1 (in-class piecing together)

i do no vomit
though i understand the noise
beneath the seal
of divine power—
the mind
the city
there is clay
planted by red-dust hands
which you are.

hodgepodge 2 (in-class piecing together)

men formed in christ’s likeness
though girls are kept as beasts
in bloomer nether garments
like rude effigies of blood orange-hued
glass—
the final answer to Pascal is…
signed, R. rattus