"Reading upside-down love stories (self portrait)"

Artwork  

Terry Rentzepis

Poetry inspired by painting:

db cox

Joseph Musso

Jonathan Hayes

blue man in the machine

I.

i am become the narrow-eyed man
on the subway train, my empty self
cloaked in suitable costume & persona—


alienated from god
with no promise to hope for—
spinning on a wheel of non-being

drawing on ever-enhanced
techniques & endless diversions
in the pursuit of happiness

tactics which have only served to tighten
the chains & increase the distance
between me & the bona fide world


II.

despite my ever-growing collection of things
i feel impoverished, deprived—
like lazarus at the feast

the inheritor of the greatest of fortunes:
the cultural heritage of the western world
art, science, literature, philosophy, religion—

have become no more
than a third-rate consumer of goods
& as such have disenfranchised myself

releasing ownership to the appropriate experts
who see the secrets of my soul which
even i, am not allowed to know

III.

i am depressed because
i have every right to be—
no one could fail to be miserable
if they lived the life i lead

hating the night
because there is no rest
hating the day
because it moves toward night

scattered thoughts
like loose bits of sand
the harder i squeeze
the faster they slip away

solitude
the condition of my existence
rage
the element of my being

if the earth were filled with t.n.t.
i’d put a match to it—
tear the night air with absolute noise

the ultimate terrorist—
no religion, no causes, no agenda
taking no hostages—making no deals



IV.

i wish to belong nowhere—no world
no way of life—no particular time & place
exit this crowded space, turn the lights off
on these misdirected dreams


find my way to an unswept street
to a dark house with no number—
to live among the uncounted
to stroll the rutted roads behind the boulevards


to tightrope along the unterraced edge of disaster
to lose myself—in the alley battleways
behind the billboards with painted smiles
in the midst of natives nobody prays for


~ db cox

~ Alien Reader ~

When the right eye sees
what the left one reads
it means nothing

until the mind comprehends
There must be a brain
to make sense of it

But if the book of truth
is positioned just so
as to hide literati substance

and can be read by a caller
with only X-rays eyes
Words will read backward

and one’s head would have
to be screwed rearward
to be read by someone else

making eyes unnecessary

~~~
Alex Nodopaka Mar©2005
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