Status Updates From Selections from Paroles

Near the end of an extremely important discourse
the great man of state stumbling
on a beautiful hollow phrase
falls over it
and undone with gaping mouth
gasping
shows his teeth
and the dental decay of his peaceful reasoning
exposes the nerve of war
the delicate question of money.

Vincent's Lament!

What day is it
It's everyday
My friend
It's all of life
My love
We love each other and we live
We live and love each other
And do not know what life is
And do not know what this day is
And do not b know what this life is

in the desert of this head
I heard your happy voice
your torn and fragile voice
childish and desolate
coming from afar and calling me
and I put my hand upon my heart
where shivered
bloodily
the seven glass shivers of your starlit laughter

Finally you gave simple names to all the simple flowers
And the tallest the most beautiful
The one that sprouts straight up out of the manure of misery
The one that stands up next to old rusty springs
Next to old damp dogs
Next to old gutted mattresses
Next to shacks where the undernourished live
This flower so alive
All yellow and brilliant
The one the learned call Helianthus
You called it sun