Artwork by Raundi Kai Moore-Kondo
CE-0
As a child
At night
I would leave
My bedroom window open
Look out into the blackness
Above the houses
Of the San Gabriel Valley
I saw red lights
In a circular pattern
Not moving
Just blinking
And I imagine
A flying saucer
Suspended in the sky
Surveying our world
During the day
They weren’t there
Later I learned
These were beacons
To prevent planes
From flying into
Transmission towers
I was so disappointed
Photo by Charles Ardinger
Fear
Every time I go outside I risk death
Even though I wear a mask I have to
Take the KN95 off if I’m going to eat
In a restaurant with only a few patrons
As I effortlessly inhale my surroundings
I can‘t help but need to ingest a burger
Made by gloved hands from another
Life much worse working in trepidation
That existence might be traded for $15
An hour multiplied by a business day
What happens when we return to our
Vehicles speed back to waiting homes
Lock the door and feel the need to open
The windows to see the immediate world
The one worn each diurnal in thoughts
Which ponder what to do about all this
Illness borne by the breath of someone
Standing too close because they are so
Impatient to relive the past lives we all had
Now just an internal memorial to freedom
No body realized how valuable it was
To be able to walk without thinking
The world might kill me today simply
Since it has been possible in steps
Plodding ground after first cry now
Frightened mind flashes at the misses
Understands to live is to gamble that
Here isn’t a nowhere until something
Shuts down the biological processor
Via means violent as a floating virus
Sukie Song!
We’re dog-sitting for ten days,
Sukie the Shiba Inu looks like
the dog on the Dogecoin, so
one fellow said, but maybe he
was just trying to hit on my
fiancée, since I was closer
to my sister as we walked.
We were instructed not to give
her people food, yet she stands
up, pushes our arms for a hand-
out. Still, we obey her masters.
After she eats treats mixed into
her regular food, we take her
for a walk. She sniffs everything
constantly, moving to something
she smells, even if it means going
to the other side of the sidewalk
or down a driveway to the street,
because she is a blind rescue.
Nine days of trying to steer Sukie
away from poles and curbs in her
non-pattern of walking in zig zags
and figure eights, we finally figure
out Sukie will head to Mina’s voice
when she calls her name. So I said,
keep singing, keep singing…
The Sukie Song
(unofficial translation)
Sukie, Sukie, Sukie Song,
Sukie Song, Sukie Song
Follow my voice, Sukie long
And we’ll go straight along
Mina complains if I don’t walk
with them, because when I walk
with them, Sukie is inspired to
poopie, ‘cuz I have to pick it up.
Back home, Mina hugs her
and lovingly puts eye drops in
her eyes, Sukie fidgets like
anyone would….
No comments:
Post a Comment