THE PLEDGE : OVERPASS !"#$%&'()#*'(+,$%
HELLO GREAT GRANDFATHER
HELLO!
How is Egypt? Yes, maybe we will finally come visit. No, it is great in America.
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0000 !"#$%&''
!"#$%&'()(*(+",)-#$.)()/#"(. the highway is still outside my window it might have been last week
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losing that hope
was the same
AS WATCHING YOUR FATHER
DIE can’t take back all the!"#$%&!'(#)*
.6(#/81'%*20#0119/
for simple acts a chipped plate or late to
CHURCH
the hum of my childhood
never existed *1'#&(8$&(/
singing me to sleep
+%.1#!(& 12.#1*
$5$+%
the arms of sinister men into bottles of different shapes & sizes he always said it would be so ($/"
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MOCKING BIRDS
&&
33,000 MEEEEES
ONLY 4
01&2/&%3),&4",)(4)45")'$22"3"
THE LATTICE WORK OF CEMENT & IRON BARS
*(#&'0* horizon!1%&&$21!%,&%2
&
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rephrased histories ignored
1'#,+//+%5
the white woman tried to explain it away
[THE AUDACITY] the black woman said that it depends on
/'(!$*!&,.3$21
THE FRATERNITY BROTHERS all out of earshot are lined up all
ALONG THE CAUSEWA
!"#$!"%&"#!'(%) colored pants
8$%$'"#.+%.(&##polo shirtsssss boat shoesssss
A FEW
YO BRO YO BRO YO DUDE YO BRO YO BRO YO DUDE YO DUDE BRO
scattered through their dumb faces
AY
4%5%24*!(2!/'(!$*!&,.3$21 [THAT’S RIGHT! [WE CAN’T FORGET THAT]]
)(#6$7(#%1#802(#)6$.#.6("#$'(#&1+%5#6('( the buildings that rise from the ground pictures of the ground lose their narrative
STRUCTURE OVER TIME rents go up
&
maybe to north houston 100 miles away from
people
(%*$
OUT
&1)%#.1)%
/'(!32(/*!&(4,67 &(4,67!/'(!32(/*
SERIOUSLY
she had her 1st television set :;#"($'/#$51 neighbors milling around in the garden elbowing each other in the ribs
YOU CAN’T SEE THEY ARE TRAINING TO BE YOUR BOSS
.6+/#,286#0+*(
IN SUCH A SMALL THING an aging woman screamed
G
THE PRESIDENT OF LAMBDA CHI: LOOK KID
this is how it $* we can’t but lie
81,,2%+8$.+1%
HAS NEVER WORKED
STRAY DOGS METAL CRANES
EVERYWHERE
$8%8)%,9!/,)9!*(#&'!/$24
.1,1''1) .1,1''1) .1,1''1)
?
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have you ever been to a shopping mall
it is so safe inside
ITT WN W]Z XZI
CHRIST COME BACK FROM
e those doors
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M HIS INTERGALACTIC REVIVAL TOUR
/(!&/),"%/,)()/#1%+)4"64).",,(3")4$)#17(12
You owe me two dollars and fifteen cents—to be exact. I miss you.
/(!&/8)9:;
+/#+.#.6(#&2/9#.6$.#9%1)/ 96!2,9%!*(!/%.. still possessive even in winter
HANDS OUTSTRETCHED chasing spools of thread chasing the fiber
that moths have eaten
in the meantime
!(.)((%#.6(%#$%&#%1)#<)(#)('(#/.+00#.$09+%5=
-#8$%#6($'#+.#12./+& days like this the ending
SO CLOSE TO LOVE THAT I CANâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T
TELL THE TWO APART
I wonder if you can understand the stages of black looming over us
the cross or degree of ,10& on poorly preserved bread
!2.#,$"!(#->,#)'1%5 it could have been a mythical figure that brought this to a close originally
SUDDENLY SHUT LIKE A LID 1'#$#,12.6
45")'$1%4/$*%<
/1#51&#+/#81,+%5#/11% those that read signs have done so have said as much:
&
GOD IS COMING SOON to me, it is no surprise, this means little
FUCK
9,6-%!$&!9%,2*!:!;<=!&(!6(# it is scary to think of something like this:
+.>/#$00#'($00"#80(7('
+,%#$"#-.) HOW TRICKY THEY CAN BE FOR US NORMAL PEOPLE
.$%/(=>)-"0)?@>)A7.
>%)(2$8,! *&%5' just a line of barbed wire unaccountable to any-one just sitting here in the middle of all of these houses you know that a child could get themselves killed in something like this CANT YOU SEE THAT HAPPENING TO YOUR OWN CHILD to think that men like you are allow-ed to run a neighbor-hood is beyond me I went to the Hutchison School and even met Donald Trump when he was on the morning news YOU CAN’T KEEP PEOPLE OUT OF HERE LIKE THIS THIS IS A SCHOOL LuAnne called me and told me that the state had run out of money ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!
)#
!
nah I don’t work the toll booth every day just when my girlfriend goes to school you know it looks fine NO ONE HAS TO TELL ME ABOUT THAT just that two women love each other 14 yrs 33 yrs 68 yrs 43 yrs 15 39 4 742 1992 years you see cars like that every day windows down the ceiling hanging in it like a sail bubbling all over their heads like that it’s stupid really a decade or so back that car was worth something
*(# rush hour traffic proposed to save my soul years ago when i was married our country building fountains of fire in other peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s backyards
n Y
neighborhood dogs hiding for days filling the night w/ complaints but this was a while ago like i said before i turned into dish soap & began to look like so many classic sinking ships
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no YES
i slept with stefan
+?,#!(81,+%5#,"#*$.6(' don't say that or you will it's too late
+/%?.#+.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN LIKE THIS like what
A GAY MAN 6(#6$/#
&$&*?!7('1%+8$
it's more complicated than that
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LOOKING FOR POINTS, THE PROFESSORS RUN OUTSIDE AND START TO INVESTIGATE THE HANDS OF YOUNGER PEOPLE
NBUT THAT WA what i was talking about
0"-$#")5")*(,)-&%(22=)()-(45"#)B).(##&"/ from the very beginning: THE DI-VIS-ION: scarcity of the ocean:
tremors of breath cold winters terribly cold snow coming through long
HOME )6$.#)$/#0(*.
distance calls to me a friend troubled by his terrible job braving the snow bank the polemical capital
silence train rides jail cells
ASN'T heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll call me up looking frantically for advice
but there is nothing to say THE DI-VIS-ION:
the beginning of me & you/it/
[\MXPIVQM KITTML PQU I 4(1 WE ALL BELIEVED
THAT WE UNDERSTOOD WHAT SHE MEANT HER FACE
Ua OWL PMZ LQ[O][\ _I[ [W IXXIZMV\
S/1#)61#)('(#)( ENOH YLETULOSBA .1#&12!.#6('
[\]XQL LaSM TM[JQIV JQ\KP CAN'T EVEN MAKE HER LANG-UA-GE WORK FOR HER
HER OWN TONGUE: her whole personal history it was a fact that was simple
+,11(& 2$11%) '#*-,24
MAYBE 50000 TEARS AGO NOT SO FAST
OBVIOUSLY NOT A
4(1
HE DRAAAAAANK TOO MUCH they said he took $300
SO
the red faced boss (another drunk) sat him down as if to speak of god & told him
GO FUCK YOURSELF
GO TO HELL
YOU DEAD GOAT'S PRICK +*#.6$.#)$/%?.#(%1256A# words like numbers
%/"'$##"0%/1#
& like shells
2(&!%2(#1' he thought a doubt maybe
to another it was all the same
45")%&354)$-)45")0$=C,)0&#45 salt water lightning filling the house's empty glasses creating a room + destroying it too
!"#%2'"3!)"4$"$(!)3-5!+$1"-)"12$"+-($ here, said the rain, you asked + I am coming Go! said the could be ocean, + ratify the agreements we made YEARS AGO clear words catching light.
@()%!$*!-%&&%)A MORE IS BETTER. everyone stands outside in their bed clothes, some drunk, others weeping, others still peering over their screens, all of the mouths open in ,/%.
NWZ \PM UW[\ XIZ\ _M SVW_ _M KIV [MM \PI\ \WW &'%!8(22%8&$(2*? .6(#5($2&*!*&)#21!&(1%&'%)? ,1,(%.$'+0"#+%#.6(#/,$00(/. [XIKM WN ZMKWOVQ\QWV
YE
THIS IS A WORLD WE WILL NEVER KNOW we are only [maybe] able to tell one road from another, but that isn't much.
ES.
THE FACE OF A CLOCK IS A FALSE CONVICTION, GEARS + BATTERIES + A COVER OF GLASS. everyone stands outside or inside, holding on to their intestines as if they would explode. others sleep constantly. others still have eyes for mud + marbles for joints.
,..!(+ !#*!1,5$21?!1,5$21?!1,5$21!&( JM ÅTTML TQSM \PM UW]\P WN I UI[[ OZI^M No one ever said that we had to be good people to keep on living, no one HAS EVER said that— something like that would be impossible, it would have to be that way, I've never even heard of such a thing: to live your whole life in hiding, in fear, not anymore of course. BUT SON, BE CAREFUL ABOUT THE DECISIONS YOU MAKE.
-&"6%2"!/$"'2376"$)%2.,"+%",!*$")%"$)$(-$#"4$"3!/$&2'" 6%2"1%)8+"4$3%($"%)$9"
,4"75)&%)'$22"3" they come out at winter time to take part in the ceremony. locking hands in a show of agreement,
THE TOW TRUCK WILL NOT PASS. look outs, stationed on the top of the parking garage warn the rest that he is preparing for his second attempt. the engine roars without moving,
*'#44%)$21!*.(/.6!,*!&'%!(2.((3%)*!)%,46!&'%$)!,99#2$&$(2
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iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve always been an honest banker at my job with the bank of commerce. i just realized that my time was up.
MY HEART IS VOID. MY STOMACH HURTS CONSTANTLY. i'm worried about everything, even you. BC!.-*!.,&%)A
$&!',55%2%4!/'$.%!$!/,*!*.%%5$21A the only thing going through my head was this canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be happening now not now
:DDA>),1.."# you were lost I thought in that dark apartment w/ so much carpeting waiting in the kitchen to boil water or again walking down our shortest hallway to ignore the extra room we both hid money in the kingdomâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cache we had no television at this point in ours lives I cooked all of the meals my specialty then was simple pasta + pasta sauce + bread from the store so often drunk w/ gnashing red teeth + then shuffling to the bed room for the most simple sex of our lives
it was from that giant bed that I watched your promises die brushing each tooth like a tiny commitment to the dream you still doubted hoping that someday you could afford to move home to a country that has never existed for you praying that I would lose every single one of my battles
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MER DUH ERE
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BEE TRUH AYL BEE TRUH AYL BEE TRUH AYL BEE TRUH AYL BEE TRUH AYL BEE TRUH AYL BEE TRUH AYL BEE TRUH AYL BEE TRUH AYL BEE TRUH AYL BEE TRUH AYL BEE TRUH AYL BEE TRUH AYL BEE TRUH AYL
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[I’M FEELING LUCKY] HUGE BLACK PREGNANT TITS THE NEWS MICHELLE OBAMA ON THE BEACH “ ” IN SPACE RUSSELL CROWE TOPLESS NIKI MINAJ’S WONDERFUL BOOOOOTY CHATROULETTE HOW TO CONJUGATE THE VERB RECHEZAR TAHRIR SQUARE
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a few things have been on my mind like, well, first, descarte’s argument seems terribly weak (if not then then now) & god’s death sometime in the last century (right?) seems a little presumptuous, maybe, we assume god to be universal, but that idea was proven false from the beginning, oh, i don’t know, maybe i mean like the late 70’s or something the beginning of this life, we had been industrial for so long but i think something is post-industrial post-post, i can’t time that i saw any at all, do YOU? i mean it isn’t like there may have maybe they never could maybe out sentence structure in college i had a was STEPHANIE, no
has changed—this i would say that they deserve their due, don’t you agree? i have a feeling that our economy (in the state that it is in—how you have to buy something for me to have a job & i have to do my job for you to buy something & if we don’t do that there are no taxes & if we have no taxes then buses NO, __________, stop running & the sewer clogs there is nothing to up & all that, not to mention worry about, like colleges, (I KNOW but just always we are because they were professors doing FINE d o e s n ’t m e a n that they did their job, STEPH always said that they were training a work force anyway)) it’s a direct reflection on our more complex psychic state as a whole as humans, no, no, no, i’ve just been thinking, that’s all, i’m allowed to think aren’t i?
or maybe even remember the last type of steel mill but you can think, it is that hard, that been other gods, & died, like they last something—our maybe. (you know, friend, her name you never met her,
but she always said that we better watch what we say, otherwise we might create a world we wouldn’t want to live in) no, i guess i never understood what she was talking about, maybe these other gods are still thriving though, well i don’t know what they would do, i am, of course, NOT A GOD—i wouldn’t have had any kids, these loans would have been paid off, ha ha ha ha, your right, i don’t know, maybe they are having banquets all the time, luncheons, fund raisers & all that, why? i don’t know, religious wars or maybe a PR campaign.
:FG?)*)5(*45$#%"),4#""4
:FG?)*)5(*45$#%"),4#""4
:FG?)*)5(*45$#%"),4#""4
:FG?
YOU COULD I BELIEVE MAKE A GOOD CASE FOR IT
KPIQVML ]X 1,11%4!/2!,+//+7( RED ASS SKYWARD IT CLAD IN LEATHER X]ZXW[MN]TTa IVLZWOaVW][
IT WITH HIS BIG PICKLE DICK IT WITH HER WET PUSSY
0+9(#$#86+0&?/#,12.6
IT WITH A FEW FREE AFTERNOONS A LITTLE BIT OF EXTRA CASH SAYING
BABY DON'T YOU KNOW THAT PLEASURE IS THE ONLY THING THAT EXISTS? $&!/$&'!'$*!-$1!4$83!2(DD.% Q\ _Q\P PMZ _M\ X][[a J]VSMZ
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now happens what is this :voice shrew’s a with prayer in though as together placed mirrors same the everything means it what that isn’t faith have longer no we that wilderness the of existence the in contradiction for allow not do that cities green down flow red up flow want you ever what colors all in out & people the of all here are they (too there are you) known have you that food eating games playing money making ways interesting in good looks it away far from to supposed is it ?happen that shouldn’t why
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DAVID: &1#"12#(7('#'($0+4(#.6$.#"12#$'(#.6+%9+%5 0+9(#"12#B2/.#8$256.#"12'#!'$+%#+%#.6(#$8. 4($21!$&7
it seems so odd when it happens
a dog crosses the street
STOPS
midway for no discernible reason
#255%#$#HE
DID
how does that reflect on HUMANITIESâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; PROGRESS?
!"#$%&'(
MY HEART FEELS ANXIOUS ABOUT THE FUTURE .1,1''1)#.6(#/.17(#)+00#*((0#/,)9 in the morning i don't feel like going to work
PMZM she said
NMMT Ua VQXXTM *.(/%)
MAYBE IT WILL RAIN TODAY +#*((0#$/#.61256#+.#,$" it usually does
PMZM she said
NMMT Ua VQXXTM *.(/%) WHAT AM I GOING TO DO
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WHAT ARE WE
00
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