12 riddles of spirit, crook in hand
by Rodrigo Toscano
[ poetry - may 05 ]
1.
The returning legions of "spirit"
kick up dust, clouds
the size of Connecticut
drifting, showering down
finite
affect
2.
Thinking of the Ravenous Billions
the screen blinking
the front part of the storm
˜the avant of it
calling you
accomplice
Who was I?
Who will I be?
3.
A clear stream of libertas
clarion tenor
MACHINE'S REVELATION
is
not enough
What
gives pause
or impetus
to my hand or mouth
in culture
interests me
as in
whose
"wits"
agree
(whose not)
like an 18" monitor
dropped on your head
whispers to you
an animus
What was it?
What will it be?
4.
In the desperate lotto draw of the "soul"
(soul, a kind of outsourcing of the social)
someone wins a freedom
dreamt of on the iron mattress of
finance
All the Friday eves of the world, the Saturday morns,
the Sunday bunny hop days
"flex-time" - boxing in
remittances - frozen
fester
Lockean-Smithean-Carnegian-Volkerist
Republics
An integral who's who
informing on
"you?
family circuits too"
geist
it's pretty
chummy
you have to admit
5.
To be young at heart
though the elbow quit pronating fully
years ago
That today
we're "faithfully" fulfilling
someone's enough
To wittingly swamp the senses
baud rates being
priv-
has all but flummoxed
the imag-
has all about itself an aura
of the etern-
present continuous
has all about its nape
necklaces
little skulls
goofy smiles
chomper-romper teeth
6.
So that who's strung out by "wait"
so that now, adding spirit-dust to it
without the means
to fund such a hill of beans
Art thou frightened of death?
Art thou frightened of disease?
Art thou frightened of war?
I too flew straight into this lungèd-life a-heaving
without preview, choice, or much deliberation.
I too, in a different circumstance might embrace an art that's
"irreducibly provisional"
that's "infinitely plastic"
But Ich can't stand the feel of the assigned (starchy) uniforms
And Ich will love basketball, though Ich won't watch it on TV this season
and perhaps many more
7.
To lose faith
Finally, in the face of economics
Infrastructure, the common weal.
To gain bulk in the shoulders
Padding in the ass
To approximate
Fellow toiler's
Lusts
A to C, screw B
8.
"lotsa motsa!"
"lotsa lumpia!"
"lotsa chalupa!"
"lotsa hefe weisse!"
"lotsa lemon vodka!"
"lotsa spritzer!"
"if we had so much as suggested something different,
we might have been spared these dried mango chips"
9.
e x p r e s s i v e r e p u b l i c s
(another day)
10.
Permutations of the Billions'
interests
How's possible not to - rep?
Micro-Direct, Indirect-Delegational, Random-Spectral
If it ain't already dreaming, bidding
for you
(text-interface
magnetism)
then...
different dips
for different chips
is only a marketing scheme
10.
In the grand tussle between words and spirit...
words
give people time to fortify or run
spirit
(not without its cruel humor)
maketh its own abode within the soul
Hail! Hail! Hail!
Homeland
Hunstman
11.
Two things Martin Luther said
"ohne mich!" "count me out!"
"ich kann nicht anders?" "how can I do otherwise?"
Two things Luther said
(as Anselm Berrigan put it)
"Trained Meat"
12.
What bones of mine will be left to gnaw on
once the plume settles
