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ELIOT KATZ
Breath Is Like
the End of Breath
Breath is like incense-stick smoke––
both trails eventually die off.
The forest trees are like a giant refrigerator
cooling off the universe.
Bears are like invisible space aliens
who sneak up when least expected.
Food is like a thermometer––
best in moderation.
The president is like a pile of wood chips
burning in anger with a single spark.
Civilization is like a slab of concrete
wired for unpredictable electricity.
The internet, like a new motorcycle,
is best driven with helmet & high alert.
Cell phones are like microwave ovens cooking the
ear––
like microwave ovens cooking the ear.
Love is like fleeting love––
lucky if followed by more fleeting love.
Death is like a down-filled sleeping bag––
the end of shivering.
All in all, it's a beautiful world
like the mountain lynx one never quite sees.
We Are Trying
to Change
Twenty percent of
and the moon over the Pentagon
is purple
with glee. The war mask is on
& Congress has decided not
to de-fang it. There are
desert valleys
and polluted streams all across
the planet,
but the flames in
than the sparks in an old Albanian
kitchen––
and this is a fire that we have
seen
people we once knew light. So we
spend
five nights each week doing our
best
to extinguish. On nights six
and seven,
we get no rest, but must place
our minds
onto a different set of bedpost
spikes.
A new British study says 1.2 million
civilians have died, a figure so
stunning
it barely gets reported. Bad
knees
and all, we are walking in the
streets
hoping to help arrest our
president. The city's
police think we are their private
comedy club,
but at least we are rushing the
stage
& trying to change the
color of the moon.
Dear Senators
Obama and Clinton
The health insurance industry is a tumor. Remove it
from the picture & the
national stress level
will go down 43%. Clogged
arteries will begin
to race. Dirty lungs will
shower and take
a deep breath. Incurable
liver-cancer cure rates
will rise 32.92%. This damn back
pain I feel
when walking was caused by
Triad, Inc. as gatekeeper to avoid paying my
chiropractic bills. My file cabinet is
now refusing
to hold envelopes filled with
HIP's contradictory
paperwork. These private health
insurance companies
are the reason high school
reading comprehension
skills are down 26% across
the insurance companies of
their habits and there
will be no more reason for Star
Wars weapon systems.
I know the campaign trail must be exhausting. But
try
to follow the mind's math.
Poetry statistics never lie.
With Body Another Year Older
Back on
& falling apart. Post-surgery knee is
swollen & painful,
making it nearly impossible to
walk. Left leg unable
to hold weight of the rest of
me, back achy as usual,
but Vivian & the
mountaintop beautiful as ever.
This year, a raven has been hobbling along the cabin
road
ever since I arrived. Is it a
symbol of Poe telling me
death is near? Or perhaps a
career as a mystery writer
is near? Or maybe the raven
carrying a miniature
recording device & unable to fly
away so Cheney
can keep me bugged while I'm
out of the country?
Luckily, doctors tell me the knee will heal, and sky
tells me the raven will soon find
its circling flock. In long
term, I'm not sure how well this
boreal forest will survive
climate heat stroke or pine beetle
breakfasts, but hopefully
some of these elder trees will
fare better after surgery than
I have. I'll type up more wish lists if I don't die
first.