abandon hope all ye--

[Terri]

some part of grey
day, red-brick neighbor
cues "methadone clinic"

and a woman found
at the threshold of under-
ground garage, huddled
dead as a derelict

[stilltrucking]

the feng shui of death
I cry out in sorrow
I live in despair
will I die in hope


family celebrates
christmas feast
as child starves to death
in the same house

"Praise to the Lord, who hath fearfully, wondrously, made thee"

"language is a bitch with an ice pick"
to stab away at the ice bound heart

[Doreen Peri]

it's actually amazing to me how many junkies survive.

vivid picture you painted here with just a few brush strokes.

succinct and alarming.

good one!

[Lightning Rod]

I have a whole chapter of clinic poems
I hope I never see those places again
(not wise to have someone else in charge of your medicine, talk to any shaman.)

truck, love 'the feng shui of death'
you're due for an ass-kicking next time you deny you are a poet

[stilltrucking]

It amazes me me how many children survive

Perhaps the only true dignity of man is his capacity to despise himself. George Santayana

sorry terri I gues I was just thinking too much I wish I had just wrote

the feng shui of death
I cry out in sorrow
I live in despair
will I die in hope

and left out the bit about Javine's death.

[Terri]

Thanks, you guys. truck--I loved what you wrote. Both parts. I tried to look up Javine, couldn't find, but I guess it doesn't really matter if I know the exact child you're talking about; (what am I trying to say here?) I mean that it's heartbreaking, the world and people and what they do and don't do to or for each other. I didn't know the woman I mentioned; she was just another one of us there, and I think about her sometimes. Doreen--yeah, amazing any of us made it out. Lrod--you, too? I couldn't write back then, though.

[constantine]

terri, is it really you or did i take too much?

[Terri]

What?