The Corridor At The End Of The Corridor

The old Sphinx bit her thick lip,--
Said, "Who taught thee me to name?
I am thy spirit, yoke-fellow,
Of thine eye I am eyebeam."

Thou art the unanswered question
Couldst see thy proper eye
Always it asketh, asketh;
And each answer is a lie.

(Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Migrant Workers Don't Kill Trucks

Migrant Workers Don't Kill Trucks

Nietzsche found the origin

of the metrical foot in walking.

So with rhythm

which foot marks.

Nietzsche dances on the page.

In the First World

(it was named so by Americanos)

walking by free citizens

is in its last throes.

The beat is technical and passive.

Rhythm is vicarious.

Gringo television

(as can be seen with the sound off)

is a jumble of images

every so often interrupted

by commercial drumming.

Rhyme is not a crime.

Real rhythm takes time.

Some people still walk before they talk.

These are growing statistics:

migrant workers

(mostly Mexican)

walking along highways

in los Estados Unidos being killed

by cars and trucks.

They are mostly walking to work.

Some of these are homicides.

Perhaps one will title this little episode

(technically a conceit were it prose)

" Pancho Villa Road "

What do you think? Is it humorous enough for you?

(copyright EAC)

Antinomies

"If one who is thinking could perceive this horizon--the
intellectual range--in the same way he perceives the limits
of his body, nothing like the antinomies of Intelligence could arise.
And what in fact are these antinomies of Intelligence? They are
the inability to distinguish transcendence in fact and transcendence in illusion.

The cause of these antinomies is language, for language, being a
useful tool, is also a self-locking instrument--and at the same time
a perfidious one, since it tells nothing about when it becomes a pitfall
itself...."

[Stanislaw Lem, tr. Heine]

Aphrodite Of Santa Fe

"My pencil is smarter than I am"

(attributed to Albert Einstein)

Madame Tetrachromat

Madame Tetrachromat

I went to the automat
with Madame Tetrachromat

She stared at each item
but didn't bite them

except each hue from the red to the blue
met with her fourfold approval.

"This one's medicinal!",
she exclaimed about the salad,

"And this one will kill you, lad,
in considerably less than a minute!

This one's got iodine in it,
That one's got arsenic.

See that shade of grink—
that means it's okay to drink!".

(copyright EAC)

A Proverb In Tigrinya

(copyright EAC)

Never Forget

How well I remember

when Saddam Hussein

leading the whole Iraqi Army

(the third largest in the world)

attacked Manhattan

in amphibious vehicles.

It was December 7

the carriers came in under fog

strafing the Bowery first

murdering homeless civilians.

The beachhead was Battery Park

they doused the Twin Towers

with kerosene and set it aflame

and Saddam with a gleeful smile

eating Eli's cheesecake

all of it as if yesterday....

(copyright EAC)

Trucking To Baghdad

Trucking To Baghdad

I was speeding down that grade faster than hell
with load of porkbellies when they rang my bell

There was a flash up front and I dashed to the rear
to save my shotgun and get him clear

Driving a truck on the Baghdad run
Driving a truck on the Baghdad run
We ain't carrying milk and it ain't no fun
Driving a truck on the Baghdad run....


[low background music, fulsome prismatic sotto voce]:

Well, boys, I lost my favorite pair of panty hose in that ambush by Anwar Sonny but we called in air and whacked that there Truck Massage in the end.

[Louder. Music changes to the BOTTLE Hymn of the Republic in the background]

I am not going to lie to YEW-EW-EW--it's a hard war and it ain't going easy, but it's a GOOD OLE HUNDRED TEN PERCENT RAT PATRIOTIC MERKIN WAR to bring democracy and clean living to Anwar Province where Adolph Hitler was born and bred.

And if we don't stop them there and now they will be in NASHVILLE before you know it.

I am just a lowly PATRIOTIC MERKIN contract truck driver making only $300 per hour at this dangerous job bringing Meals-On-Wheels to our TROOPS on the front lines.

But I'll tell you one thing more. I lost my favorite deck of cards with Playboy Playmates of the month on the back with which I used them to teach the local heathen SCRIPTURE....

[resumes singing]

Driving a truck on the Baghdad run
Driving a truck on the Baghdad run
We ain't carrying milk and it ain't no fun
Driving a truck on the Baghdad run....

(copyright EAC)

IF This Screen Were Paper....

If this screen were paper
would these words stand here
unread

If this light were the sun
would anyone await midnight
to write

(copyright EAC)

Que Bonitos Ojos Tienes


What does a poor poet offer
except music?

Sell yourself
for money.

I will pierce your soul
with song.

You dance forever
for those unborn.

You will never age.

Que bonitos ojos tienes--

What clear and lovely eyes.

Forever.

(copyright EAC)