Damselfly South

• NaPoWriMo Part 1

“Abroad” 4/1
“Little Yellow Bird” 4/2
“From Either Direction” 4/3

• NaPoWriMo Part 2

“Time Elapsing” 4/4
“Phlogiston” 4/5
“Autodidact” 4/6

• NaPoWriMo Part 3

“Skinning Cows” 4/7
“Lion Drivers” 4/8
“Pieces of Naomi” 4/9

• NaPoWriMo Part 4

“Compromises” 4/10
“Self-Deprecating” 4/11
“I am more who I could be now
than I was then” 4/12

• NaPoWriMo Part 5

“In Brief” 4/13
“Passing Consideration” 4/14
“Goddamn Vampires” 4/15

• NaPoWriMo Part 6

“The Behemoth No Longer Walks” 4/16
“The Weight Of Memory” 4/17
“True Mythology” 4/18

• NaPoWriMo Part 7

“Train Girl” 4/19
“Faith Based Technicality” 4/20
“When We Lie” 4/21

• NaPoWriMo Part 8

“Hounds Of the Sun” 4/22
“Day by Day” 4/23
“Bushy Tail” 4/24

• NaPoWriMo Part 9

“Premise” 4/25
“The First Five Hundred-or-so Words that Sprang to Mind Last Night” 4/26
“Stet” 4/27

• NaPoWriMo Final (Part 10)

“Ahead” 4/28
“All Nighter” 4/29
“Welcome Back” 4/30

“Ahead” (4/28)

an old man smiled at me
as he biked past and nodded
and I nodded and smiled back
our sense of being distracted
by there being more than one of us
in this delayed weekend morning
it is nearly 9 and the streets are yet empty

I hit the main shopping arcade
but most stores won’t open until 10
still the early signs of a day ahead
dot the road in the comings and goings
of employees arranging store fronts,
chatting amicably, and arranging construction cones
in front of street displays

I pick out a coffee shop,
since they are most of what is open
and my body being mostly Sangiovese
lingering from the night’s activity,
I could use a cappuccino and some little salad wrap thing
or maybe something fried in eggs covered in powdered sugar

when the good Lord used
the long arm of the British Empire
and then the American empire
to push His teachings on distant cultures
just as soon as they were conquered
He no doubt wanted to share
this idea of weekend luxury
some gratitude to empire is likewise surely owed

after my coffee
I head up the street
to the bookstore open from 9
to kill time with those killing time
to shop for books
with those who came out early
just for the books
needing something outside of this morning
in the days ahead
that reminds them what it is to play at being
to fade in and out
like something other than stars
that likewise shimmers
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“Premise” (4/25)

I think it’s time we had a conversation
about
what this is all
about
and where we are
that is where we’ve come to
and what it’s
about
and what that means this
will not be
about
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“Hounds Of the Sun” (4/22)

There was something coming fast
that was bound to take our place,
another generation, or a brighter future,
or those who still wanted it all,
and had the drive not to settle for less.

In the future, there will be those of us
who will sit and drink all day
and sing them songs of praise,
and there will be those of us
who sit and curse them for what they’ve done
that we could not.

And then there will be those of us unseen,
who still chase the sun as it flees before us,
reaching out as its heat fire-blasts off our fingertips,
erasing us from the official record.
But we will give chase,
and we will pursue,
because we don’t need the approval of those who left off,
only that of our peers, who’re are still out here.
Still here, running after the total oblivion of a fiery star.
You only get to try once.
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