Lauriol

In certain cities,
A man will look you up and down
Before he looks you
In the eye.

I Know my Soul

by Claude McCay

I plucked a soul out of its secret place
And held it to the mirror of my eye,
To see it like a star against the sky,
A twitching body quivering in space,
A spark of passion shining on my face.
And I explored it to determine why
This awful key to my infinity
Conspires to rob me of sweet joy and grace.
And if the sign may not be fully read,
If I can comprehend but not control,
I need not gloom my days with futile dread,
Because I see a part and not the whole.
Contemplating the strange, I’m comforted
By this narcotic thought: I know my soul.

The Emptys Cuming Back

have you ever sat by the railroad track
and watched the emptys cuming back?
lumbering along with a groan and a
whine--
smoke strung out in a long gray line
belched from the panting injun's stack
--just emptys cuming back.

i have--and to me the emptys seem
like dreams i sometimes dream--
of a girl--or munney--or maybe fame--
my dreams have all returned the same,
swinging along the homebound track
--just emptys cuming back.

by Angelo De Ponciano

You Can't Go Back to Childhood

by Lilian Bui
written August 2, 2009

No, you can't go back to childhood
The road doesn't go that way
It's overgrown with brush and woods
The gates are locked, decayed.

You can't go back to childhood
There, your head would swell
Drunk with liquid memory
Obscenities dispelled

You can't go back to childhood
Where Father lowers you to bed
And the noxious smell of libraries
Accounts for "what if's" in your head

You can't go back to childhood
Where bare feet seek the lawn
And autumn twilight listlessly
Turns constellations on

You can't go back to childhood
Where candy stains the tongue
And shopping carts make sturdy ships
For misadventures sprung

You can't go back to childhood
I am myself convinced
There is no place quite like it
Never before nor since

You can't go back to childhood
The river has run dry
You can't go back to childhood
However you may try.