my face falls apart in front
of yours, mechanical lips failing
to communicate-
                      
                      buzzsaws from my
mouth flow out to cut through

suspended in time
   you look so calm, contained
   but I know that your mind
   screams

   in its glass dome, it sees-
just as mine snarls and explodes
from its container,
            
             tail-whipping the truth of
gear-teeth bending and breaking


the machine descends into

a chaos

so complete that anyone

who sees

is never the same

.

saying goodbye to
a face, we realize
communication is
a clock, falling apart

metal moments hinge on
the open air between us-
   we curse and apologize

the wind in my sails got too strong
and my heart,
afraid of being discovered,

burst into pieces
of conversational quality

shake loose the circuits
that outshine
the electricity
of your thoughts
break them,
    
   grind them into dust
and wake up to new machines
made in light-filled factories

be still,
   i will look you
           in the eye

   and if you show me
your face,
                   I'll show
                   you mine

For a while, my spirit
rebelled against my body

(Was it not the temple you expected?)

In that time, my spirit
sat in silence
and stared at itself-
in revelation or vanity,
I'm not sure which,

but I do know that
purity of spirit is not
what determines the happiness
of a bound human soul

It is not escape that I seek now
but immersion

For a while I was pure and bored,
now I drink, and I smoke
I say yes to love
and I am happy

All alone
we speak
and act
in droves

Black dots
on the page
forming
a newspaper
cutout image

Do not listen
     to my words
                 or
     riotous prophecies
     of a world on fire
                             
                             I­ am
      the son of Cassandra,
                a shining bird
           not to be believed

If I am to tell you that I
see the monsters of our
     suppressed dreams
    come to bathe us
            in flame

Heed not a word
            of it

For the gods have
   declared me a liar
and I am not allowed
          to tell the truth

Only to give short
    flights of fancy
              with which
    you may entertain
               yourself

If I am to tell you that I
     see the worlds cities
in peace - Prepare for
                  the worst

      For I am the son
           of Cassandra,
          a shining bird
       not to be believed

I've got enough wax rhetoric
to fill a pail
      and then
            fill it again

with ideas, words

& cheap inconsequential

         garbage

                 Shall I paint it
                 and call it
                 shiny new?

I'll call it lawn trimmings
      to the jungle
I'll call it house cats
      to the lion

It's a small word
in a small world
  
   - But fate has a way
       of magnifying these
         types of things -

Call it a misadventure

Starving,
                call them
                 hungry ants
                 to climb your leg
                 and all you want is
  
                 to lie down and forget

The   sting  
                   is   like  
                                 raindrops

Gray mountain concrete
       elephant underpass
groans on six foot wide
legs
      
       bones of steel
       re-bar bend and break

As it all begins to crumble
in the cold November sun

Leviathan highways
   strangle the hills
      with cold grip- They
            spill steel and smoke
       blood on the city streets

Delivering poison
     to your door

Robot brain control center
Oversees the operation
from tall towers
        geometric shapes
          
        Obelisks & Skyscrapers

Father Culture thinks with
                                   his ****

Fire

         has overtaken the town

and now
bangs on your door

         Demanding recognition

Come play us a tune
       as the world burns

Come play in the wicked
streets and sing with
                      the children

Who have
                  run away from
                       their homes

Who don't weep, for
when they left they
were either very angry
          
                   Or on fire

What good is a smile
      in these times?

Can it slow the flames
   that lick at your door?

Can it bring us rain
    to save our lives?