twisting & turning
the dwarf
limps away her life
on wire-bound feet

Many would take it
as the midway station to heaven
nineteen hundred miles up
can heaven be far away?

Some would even think
that sixty three million years
is eternal enough
especially for those hopeless potbellied souls
knowing that it’s impossible for them to pass through
the tiny eye of a needle
here, God is not
the Final Judge

Of course there are details to be worked out
for instance, should there be racial segregation
like that in the old South Africa
so as to preserve the purity of the ashes?
Or, as long as they can afford to pay
should even dogs and cats be allowed?


* Many years ago a Houston space service company had a plan to send human ashes into space.  According to the plan, ten thousand human remains would orbit the earth at a distance of nineteen hundred miles for a minimum of sixty-three million years.

Evening
a desolate street

A car with its windows tightly rolled up
stops for the red lights

Suddenly
in the rear-view mirror
a dark figure
looming
          
Sir, buy ...

The ashen driver
steps in fright on the pedal
and rushes through the red lights
like a rabbit running for its life
          
... buy some flowers
today’s Valentine’s Day

The white cat
stretches
and shakes

You little devil
shedding hair
all over the carpet

the higher the window
the smaller
and paler
the face

every time I pass underneath
I always have a funny feeling
something is going to land on my head
a spit
a cigarette ****
a flower ***
or a man
spreading his arms
trying to fly
like a bird

Built at the border of our hearts
this wall of the 21st century will grow  
drawing nourishment from all dark corners
of human nature
to become the Great Wall
of America

Hold it!
are you trying to come in
or get out

he won
yet he is not satisfied
all the cheering and hailing came from the living
but few, if any,  from the dead

so he vows to investigate
how many dead people are really dead
and how many living people pretend to be living