Thursday, May 24, 2007

a momentary refuge

what a fool i have been
to trust the credit man
to believe the musician

what faith i have lost
in signs of assurance
such frames of refusal

what refuge we have found

posted by judy j @ 12:30 PM 0 comments

Friday, May 18, 2007

The Age of Abundance

"You have food, now,
so you can think," they say,

as if we haven't always hungered
for a tent that won't leak,
a cot that won't break,
a book we can believe,
and a child we can save.

"You have a home now,
so you can protest."

as if we haven't always searched
for a place to sleep,
a hand to hold,
dry shoes and warm clothes,
soup tureens and gas stoves.

"You have a job, now,
so you can participate."

Our governance has always been
exaggeration and legend,
boots to black, shoes to shine,
boxers in the alley
and a kiss for a dime.

It's just that now,
they've started to notice.

posted by judy j @ 11:45 AM 0 comments

Monday, May 14, 2007

Cordelia in Camp

That's the trouble with condemned houses:
someone always has to say the word

"condemned"

to declare a residence, an office, a workshop
to decree it as unfit for human occupation.

(curtailed)

You've never told me you loved me.
You never will, will you? It's a word

(cordoned)

unfit for human occupation, for the activities
of our lives spill beyond a word, a structure

(contained)

centuries-old bricks, cracked cement foundations
where hundreds to gather monthly to discuss

(constrained)

what makes us who we are? how do we change
what we've become? is it possible? Is love

conveyed

in a stone-walled church with shattered
windows that open to rotted floors and rafters?

Is one word ever enough?

You'll never say it, so how do we
occupy the space it was once designed to hold -

habitate the splintered barns between
crumpled staircases - keep each other warm

under the dock that has collapsed
in bay winds that can never enunciate

the words:

"condemned"
"i love."

posted by judy j @ 8:54 PM 0 comments

Thursday, May 10, 2007

REGULATIONS REGARDING...

Not Permitted in Voting or Polling Room:

Liquor (except Rum)
Guns (except Remingtons)
White Hoods (no exceptions)
Swastikas
Burning Crosses
Barbecue Pits
Livestock (except Rams)
Saddles (Reins OK)
Carriages
Car Parts (except Regulators)
Power Tools (except Routers)
...

Restrictions or Regulations Regarding
Personal Identification, Tax Status,
Criminal Record, Race, Ethnicity,
Place of Origin, Gender Identity,
or Political Affiliation
Will Not Be Tolerated.
...

Also:
Remember to Retain your Raffle Ticket!
You May Have Already Won
These and Other Fabulous Prizes:
Respect
Recognition
Reparations
Release from Imprisonment
...

Ready...
Set...
Revolt!

posted by judy j @ 10:31 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

textbook separation

redwood counter of sierras
slick with cider and port
verdigrised latch
how many bars?

this economy of traits
when a traitor repents

how many songs at the end of time?

snapshot laminate peels, weathered
a pension of forgiveness
against soprano vibrato
and acoustic riffs

underneath the frenzy,
a calculated slice:
two hundred measures
in tango and waltz

a hillside excavation
accompanies accordion excursions
we slide on sweat
under fevered glances

this lie of searching, surety -

we explain:
marriage, divorce
child custody in courts
we remain

we part

posted by judy j @ 2:47 PM 0 comments

Monday, May 07, 2007

The Business

He wipes snot from the boy's nose
with his bare hand,
flicks it to the ground.

That's love.

"So you're a fag now?"
Why does he remind me of my cousin?
Is it the way the ice broke?
or the discoordination?
"That fool there, he's a fag."

Now he looks like my uncle, if
my uncle was about to spit at me.

"I don't agree with your thinking,
pretty much not at all on this."

It is my business.

posted by judy j @ 8:41 PM 0 comments

Thursday, May 03, 2007

An Experiment To Determine The Number of Repetitions Necessary to Memorize and Retain With Maximum Certainty A Miscellaneous Collection of Facts

When the experiment was began, it seemed reasonable that the written form of repetition would be most desirable. Questions, the answer to which could be given in a single sentence, or even a single word, were selected and given in order to avoid the element of judgment.


What was the name of children in need of food? Work, Labor, and Action.

What important geographical feature takes off our skin? Bones.

About how large is a saint's lie? Right on.

What keeps bodies from flying apart? Service of how.

Who would you choose to watch the sun melt? You know.

What is the leading occupation of the advertiser of intangibles? You know.

Name three important promises. You'll be. You'll fly. You'll know.

What is wind? Hear.

What is the religion of "I want my body to disappear"? Die Drei Letzten

What is the meaning of fighting in vain? To regard a luminous body.

What usually causes us to stick together? I don't know. Do you?

What relic of captivity is still to be seen in a curse? Improvements in social conditions only strike them dumb with dread.

What changes are caused by forgiveness? When the birds sing.

What is coal? Locked up sunlight.

What is proved by string quartets? Introductions, education, unity and chaos.

How have little hands been formed? There are many examples.





The outcome of this experiment should be as it is.

posted by judy j @ 12:08 PM 0 comments