I.

What's there to believe
sitting before videos of canned biographies

When I look into the tragedy of life
of life lost on blank minds pretending to survive
is Tupac Shakur the only wreck amongst the black fold
or Michael Jackson, white-boy, damaged by the color green

I needed affection but affection was denied
tho denial never banished the affection I sought
but surely denials infected my thoughts

Now I'm an old man peeing on himself
yellowing my legs with more than the sperm of youth

I am in and out, a depletion sitting side the empty road
damaging struggles raging within my gut
sucking milk from The Abundant Breasts

II.

Lusting parents want sweat from their lads

It's difficult to know when you're growing up
without voice or heart and blind demands
your time and tensions skewed by wants of the poor

Where is hope when your mind's tied to absence
and needed bonds foregone as if religion
when pretenses of meaning pour from twisted lips
and ears open to love are waxed with noisy distractions

Business substitutes for intimate conversations

Hearts become poisoned with material exchange
when what's truly needed by the human searching
are intangible possessions purchased by caring hands

We see but are snared into the desire for image
experiencing fame and toys and pains of exclusion
but God's present in our moments of darkness
always Bread awaiting the hungry prophet



*One thing is certain:people leave their homelands because life there is difficult to bear.
-Czeslaw Milosz


*...whoever looks for happiness in distant lands must be prepared for disillusionment or even for the doubtful reward of one who jumps from the frying pan into the fire.
-Czeslaw Milosz


*..the pain we feel at a given moment is more real than the pain we may endure in the future.  This earth will with all its charms and beauty is after all the earth of the "exiles of Eve."
-Czeslaw Milosz