Paralyzed on a Piece of the Lawn

After all these years
I find myself in a country
I never knew for myself

Was this always a region
Of forgetfulness
Or just now becoming
A regrettable state of mind

On downstream here
Is where the big catfish
Suck up the mud

From under my elbow
A bald catfish eyeball
Fries upward in smoke

Numb from the neck down
I shake my head into the rushing waters
Like a smudge trying to wipe itself off

Wish I was a soldier again
Standing on firm ground and
Shooting unbearably thin sacs of fish eggs
From cannon snouts

Thin membrane sacs
The size of bowling balls
Filled with tiny, glutenous fish eggs
Perfectly centered to explode
On landing

Haphazardly
In the middle of a dry desert
On target

In my dream
A shoe fits perfect
On the tip of my finger

Willow trees arch from cereal
Box tops stapled to the wall

A blue ball with pinholes
Canopies the midnight sky over
A red checkered breakfast table
Clean

Guards feed and water me on schedule

Never did learn how to fall before
the leaves turned away from the sun
On counter tops at high noon

Closing down my big eyes
Over field shadows burning down the light

Call this a picnic
If you want

I own nothing and everything
I touch
Smells the same

Wet cement floor
Waving my elbow like a wiper blade
Crossing a river running back on itself

This is Cereal. This is Cereal. This Is Cereal

Don’t tell me

Be quiet
Lay down
Be quiet
Lay down
Be quiet
Be down
down
down
down
 
 

Dedicated against the death penalty and executions of Tookie Williams in 2005 and Troy Davis in 2011. Don’t call it lynching. History is pragmatic, problematic and already full of doubts with white people concerns. After China, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, the U.S. accounts for the most executions conducted in the world today. As long as death penalty executions continue in the U.S., I doubt that economic and social changes needed for various social justice programs, medical or otherwise, will ever happen.