Four Poems
Coda
the empire has collapsed
in the mansions above
men harvest money
the peons below cannot breathe
eat read dance love
we must take to the streets
the barricades the hills
at the beginning of the millennium
life is short
is it worth
exhausting
what’s left
of my soul
to wrest order
from this absurd chaos
history #39
as of March 26, 2012
retired from life
I am watching a soccer match on Fox Soccer
Apoel Nicosia, Cyprus versus Real Madrid
in the UEFA Championship League
the fans of Nicosia exuberant delighted
belonging for moments
to what we label the real world
whatever that means
the devotees of the star-studded Real aloof
above it all
in the background
I’m listening to Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers Live
at Kimballs, San Francisco
reading about the marriage of Christianity
with Imperial Rome the restoration
of the landlords who gain more control
over their tenants
poverty and fear in the cities
displaced discalced many move
into the deserts
the mountains
the Book of Revelations has been stamped
into the Canon as the final chapter of the Bible
back to the soccer match
the Greeks and Madrileños present
have earned a brief respite
from Tory austerity and dispossession
the neo-liberal financial bureaucrats
who rule Europe and the Market
where we are all up for sale
back to pānis et circēnsēs
Real Madrid wins 3-0
playing O Jogo Bonito
“the beautiful game”
Philosophy #8: Budget Cuts by the Ministry of Education
The mind cannot be purchased
in the convenience store.
Progress report
here the hills were in the way
just sandstone silica
tons to be trucked to oilfields
easily razed
the tall pines
waves of their symmetrical branches
multitudes of birds
resting in them
—Robert Schuler, Menomonie, WI
