The Genie-us crawled silently out of the old clock,
and climbed up the bookshelves at night
The Genie-us then read from the pages forbidden,
feeling shame with a lusty delight
The Genie-us returned as the sun came up,
crawling inside the tall clock in the hall
The old pendulum again swinging, the chimes reset
—until darkness anew comes to call
(Dreamsleep: April, 2020)
To Ken Kesey & Neal Cassady
If you’ve never been lost,
there’s no need to be found
As the self-disenfranchised,
circle around
They question and lecture,
and spew out their grief
To lure you within,
their false broken beliefs
“You really don’t get it, man,”
they sing from their bus
They say “You’re unhip”
and “You need to be us”
The chanting of llaughter,
they march to inane
Where a prank on themselves
—waits in drug induced shame
(Villanova, Pennsylvania: December, 2019)