MADE FOR YOU AND ME 1: hive Being (Stanzas 2016—part 9)

Let's workshop this stanza sequence, which includes episiotomies, UFOs, swigs from milk cartons, freedom petitions by slaves, black swagger in burger commercials, tomboy romance, crusty panties

a land of people offended to extremes of vengeance by mere disagreement

in the sweet spot her panties always go tock-tock 

the search for life there introduced life there

ice-skating on Europa

the spitting mouths of desolate seniors,
powerless in the face of looming oblivion,
abusing their nurses with racial epithets 

both are in people’s lives in times of crisis, 
but our view is that firemen come to save 
whereas cops come to disrupt, hurt, cuff, kill

at least with her death
you are free to take swigs
straight from the milk carton

offers of water, coffee, sandwiches even
to get the installation man to stay
as you grope for something to say

the desire to invigorate whale-hunting
unconscious among those whose lives
are moored to its violent opposition

the tomboy tore gum from her mouth and, once 
he began to chew, no hesitance remained
about holding hands among the trees

afflictions awaiting a name

miscarriages in jars of rubbing alcohol

the phrase “there is no excuse” used as an excuse

hand jobs on church-camp busses

praising lesser ones
after spotting a great one
to deny what we spotted

enlisting in the war
to report the sufferings
of boots on the ground

being asked the time
as you check a watch
that does not work

where does the preacher go,
how does he live, when
not on his corner?

in our lungs and eyes, ash
goes unseen in the air—
how did it come to this?

perineum fist-knuckle bloodless
from crowning pressure, the cut
distant (as if on the crotch of your jeans) 

a twilight zone where all are so caught up
in their own productions and performances
that they are indifferent to everyone else’s

a loggerhead crisis in our time of victim outrage when the term
is prevalent in Black English Vernacular (and thus sacrosanct)
and yet is a “heteronormative slur” in the LGBTQ community

saving, for what?

discomfort with a fact does not mean
that fact is not true, despite what
our consumer culture insists upon  

taxidermy is construed as a pathetic attempt
to hold what is gone, as if our stuffed selves
were not our selves—simply in a new phase 

dwelling on histrionic conspiracies
is the go-to distraction from hunger
when street romance is not forthcoming

the Crawford mark of beauty,
nauseating to wake up next to 
each day: brown, topographic

hiding from, while spreading fear of, death
simply by talking about it always
with the unfazed coldness of an academic 

if hidden hands cover up UFOs, and stop us 
from falling off Earth’s edge, then at least 
something is in control and watching out for us

are you one to be destroyed 
by the understanding that all labors
are destined for extinction? 

feigning disarray and retreat

float tank diarrhea

shout out to the local judges centuries back 
who, doing what little they could, approved
the freedom petitions slaves brought to court

♫“All beef patties with pickles”♫
sung spoken-word black suave
in the McDonald’s commercial

This is a portion of an ongoing mosaic poem called Made for You and Me. This portion is from the first installment: hive Being (Stanzas 2016-2020). More specifically, it is from the 2016 portion of that five-part work.

Photo: flashbak.com/chicago-73-forty-incredible-photographs-by-john-h-white-32093/