sw00105rs-s3poem10

Rooted Sky 2007
 -
                                        III.  Words Around Death

The Curse

  (On Earth, as always, Justice
   is more           than blind.)


I   am an absentminded man
a man of daydreams
of imagination
and this world
this fire-cracking ball
seems all violence
all reason
There are no grounds here
for one
such as I

This afternoon
in Terry's office
Joel told us
how    because of his cold
he picked up
Vicks & Sucrets
wondering which to take
but thoughts in a haze
took them both
and how    this morning
the judge
let him choose
a 50-dollar fine
or 50 days in jail

This afternoon
nearing my car
I remembered
my lunch bag    turned
breathed God damn it
and walked back
Looking at my desk
I saw    that I forgot
I had forgotten
my jar of Mazon
-- no grounds --
And Janice & I
are living
in a new apartment complex
unready when we entered
already falling apart
and the landlord's
lease is tight
In the winter
he would rather
a resident's tailbone crack
than sand or salt get into
his buildings
In the spring he is
especially    hard to see
and declares without investigation
the flooded basement
an Act of God
In the summer
he will do
whatever he can
to keep the deposit money
In the fall
he blows his whistle
and loves more
than his wife perhaps
his hunting dogs

Oh the judges    the landlords    all of us
how we can pray and pray
and eat      the flesh      of men

 -------
Brian A. J. Salchert