David Meltzer
Chains
heart’s part
loops spools
beyond
borders & dethroned art
at the boundary
searched & seized
brands name me
green light canaries
chirp stop & go
fly through company store
gill nets
pixel sigils leap from zone to zone
corral our shuttle
I surrender dear
voluntary slavery
haul rocks to pyramid’s base
place a pebble
in the rubble
if kids ask about hegemony
say Christmas
mutants
supplicants
Ferbies
Cabbage Patch
unchained melody on line
take these chains
from my heart
time in chains
keep art’s pain
in plain view
push out hemmorid curls of
bloody burger coils
sing cellphone counterpoint
disembodied oracle
alone on the cellphone
cool suits move
in throngs
designer haircuts
in doorways
Pakistani cabdriver
Sikh cabdriver
Hindu cabdriver
Muslim cabdriver
call me “sir” & always tell me
“no problem”
play bangrah cassettes devotional harmonium
Bollywood soundtracks
out shattered speakers disarm me on the Freeway
unwind me
secret agent poet
nods & bobs
in time w/ MIDI tablas big “problem”
drives us smash-bang
into brick barrier
e-mail tells me Bibliofind’s owned by Amazon
owell’s is now
Barnes & Noble
no time to shake head
for punchline or
doubletake or
say wha
breaks apart ethic
one thought was
containable
an all-new improved
mutant wild west show
predation nation
suburbs & prisons
abound with segregated selves
in private cells
cathode cuffed
how to own the unknown
disown the known
edge of cold sweat
desire
imagines
satisfaction
dread waits for random death
the guy in a SUV
on a cellphone
in TV videogame
disconnect
doesn’t see you
even after he hits you
stone skips
great lakes
drowns
in found art
clip clop smack slap
over gray sludge glitter
stuff ‘r’ us
hey babes
it’s class war
no matter how
classy your chassis
random necessity
luxury dogs let loose
go everywhere
it’s all theirs
snarf snarf
silly cones
at sudden
outdoor coffeshops
one hop away from
retro 50s boutiques
faux beatniks w/
exotic dogs & cellphones
live through stuff
a stuffed life
where empty speech
weaves together
meaning & continuity
balkanization yes
aryanization si
sudden rich kids
prance furtive
through hardcore
gauntlet of homeless junkies
hookers
zero lifers
cracked out
zapped off
splat pants
shit sock s
dark crotch puke glaze
fierce survivors
stay alivers
in your no eye contact
a dis-ease
a busy molecule
corkscrews
into core of certainty
bullseye
everyone owns
everyone else
ah perfect world
unperfected
sign in City Lights
‘no sell phones beyond this point’
•
the tiniest hand puts together
the crappiest cheapo toy or gizmo in any or all 99¢ stores
in any or all
strip mall
where bottom feeders & kitschniks forage
in the sewage of abundance