Quivering in the dark


We can sympathize
with the tribes.

When the government came in
	dammed the river
	for a power plant
	and re-routed the shipping channel
		away from us
		took homes, businesses
		drydock jobs
		shipping jobs
		even graveyards
		to make it work,
we said little
and
	amazed by
		the huge bridge
		the office building
		the promises
we did little
let the long term go
let them have a free ride
until it was over
and the construction boom left.

Sounds familiar and dark.

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audience

Stand in front of four hundred
mostly strangers
there for something else
and be cool.

Monopolize them
with my words
and demeanour
and backed by
fifty musicians

It was the fifty
who carried it off
maybe my giant failures
were just my little failures—
but it would be nice to be perfect.

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loss

So often have we faced a loss:
	perhaps a favorite doll disappeared during a play date
	a wagon vanished overnight from the front yard
	a pair of glasses but not the book
	a wallet from a locked hotel room
	an unexpected fire that started in the kitchen
	a home expropriated for an expressway
	a life denied by bombs and firefights

As if it had been ripped away, each loss left a scar
	a belief broken
	a past denied
	justice lost
	distrust, cynicism, paranoia

Why are there so few thieves, so many victims?

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