Maybe you feel the same as I do

I hope I'm not the only one...
---

“Suburban Counterpoint” (2012)

there were never sidewalks here

fragments of public walking space
pepper the neighborhood intersections
suggesting some sort of intention
to pair the swelling and splintering roads with parallel lines
suited for name-brand shoes and factory-produced bicycles

thus the streets are flanked by eastbound chains with clean façades

and while I could never see clear to the other side
(as the traffic is relentless through to the evening)
now I can see nothing but a pseudo-city in love with itself

the parking lots can barely hold
the collective transport
of the voracious consumers

the mindless drones
through advertisement
and
apathy
and
artless
lifeless
debauchery
have been drawn like moths to the department store lights

no weather can abate their appetite
their need to acquire and consume

how very american of them
how very suburban of them

not a single street corner is home to a friendly conversation

picture this:
SUVs and expressionless middle-aged parents
flying by each other at dismissive speeds

frictionless

their lives confined to the living room
the bedroom
the backseat
the grave

suffocation
is a word used all too commonly
when one is smothered by an oppressive culture
but how may I be suffocated
by that which has provided me no air in the first place?

clearly
I must have come from some other planet
because
this
is not my home

Driving in your car (I never, never want to go home)

These were actually written quite a while ago, and I think they deserve some explanation (or introduction). Since my last post, I hadn't written in a long while. I was busy with other endeavors and poetry was, unfortunately, a distraction at best. But one night...one miserable night...I let loose with eleven fiercely minimalist poems, and I left them there. Sitting around. Useless.

But here they are, compiled properly (i.e. in the order I wrote them) and awaiting critique or a silent nod of acknowledgement. I am sure that this kind of writing has been done, but for me this is a conscious break from my earlier work. While I don't write often, I try to make it count on the off-chance that I do indulge that insatiable demon inside me.

...Oh, who am I kidding? Fuck demons; I'm a frustrated kid from the suburbs. Read it like that.

---

"What Words Cannot Express" (2011)

1

I I I I I I

I can I can

I can't help you

2

Slither shake slide

Um

Unimportant

3

Inky black

LED dashboard light

Rah rah rah and on and on

And stretch and back home again

Mhmm, thanks I'll see you later

4

Luv you

Luv you too

I love you

I'm not sure

5

The less I say

The better

Keep talking

6

Baby sweetie honey

Just the wall and me

7

Hello Richard

Hello

How are you

Alright I guess

That's good

How are you doing

Pretty good

That's nice to hear

8

Fuck you

I wish I could

9

Unambiguous

I feel completely indifferent

10

Alone

Again

Aah

11

What did you think?