I wonder at this You and I
You are all there is
And I am all annihilated.
There is an I
No longer exists.

- Mansur al-Halaj, a 10th Century Persian Sufi

A Julie Cervantes spammed me with the following message:

you holdover me diffractometer me you during me query me you nymphomaniac me solve me you irene me detention me
you anybody me crusoe me you dingy me patti me you percussive me hobart me you bisexual me palladian me

The Earth Is A Satellite Of The Moon
Leonel Rugama, radical poet
trans. Kent Johnson


Apollo 2 cost more than Apollo 1
Apollo 1 cost plenty.
Apollo 3 cost more than Apollo 2
Apollo 2 cost more than Apollo 1
Apollo 1 cost plenty.
Apollo 4 cost more than Apollo 3
Apollo 3 cost more than Apollo 2
Apollo 2 cost more than Apollo 1
Apollo 1 cost plenty.
Apollo 8 cost a whole shit-load of money, but no one minded
because the astronauts were Protestant,
they read the Bible from the moon, astounding and delighting
every Christian, and on their return Pope Paul VI
gave them his blessing.
Apollo 9 cost more than all of these put together
including Apollo 1 which cost plenty.
The great-grandparents of the people of Acahualinca
were less hungry than the grandparents.
The great-grandparents died of hunger.
The grandparents of the people of Acahualinca were less hungry
than the parents. The grandparents died of hunger.
The parents of the people of Acahualinca were less hungry
than the children of the people there.
The parents died of hunger.
The people of Acahualinca are less hungry than the children
of the people there. The children of the people of Acahualinca, because of
hunger, are not born, though
they hunger to be born, even to just die of hunger.

Blessed are the poor for they shall inherit the moon.

King Richard's Song of
Jacques Stout's Diving Songs

for Joe Donahue


Are, am, are?
Be.
Be.
Be.
Who
finds ways back to books of myths
in which nothing does not appear?
Who
might drown them?
Not a swimmer named
Jacques,
not the face forming in a haze of asphyxiation
how the blood boils in rising
blop
blop
bloop
when the spinning pin pricks of purple light
pinwheel and nova, the flesh explodes
and is then set on the corner
swapping cocks for a cop of candy.
Who frames profanes, inflames, and
proclaims. The naughty boy
strangled the pussy and threw her in the well;
sing a dong to the children. Who
wins the books of myths but no one,
not one but only one.

Traveling knots and nots
in sinking.
We drown
only separately,
we,
I,
because
I am I
to drown
my
books. Love cannot be drowned;
the
Is
do not have it.
They
cannot.
Who be the
they
that frame?
We
of course the
they
but at a different depth.

Coming to the surface is otherwise
not inevitable, not all fish eyes
point to the skies. We're not Cousteau
nor amphibious humans owning all possible worlds
nor regularly enjoying lovely vacations at sea.
You is what you aren't, the ocean being otherwise
the original, contemporary and ultimate solution.
I am not she I am not he I am not it but I am but
I am not I
We are not we
we
but
so much less than
infintely more

consider the lilies of the field
consider the lilies in the field
consider the lilies across the field
consider the lilies in my field of vision
consider a lily of a field
consider one lily of a poorly defined open space loosely demarcated by some trees
some trees and a golf course
consider the worms
consider one worm the worm
consider some worms eating
consider eating
consider ate
consider how it is you consider one lily or a lily or the lily or a field or the field consider it please
I tell you what to do and you listen
what does your consideration look like?
I’ve had a nice morning
contemplating my investments
out on the golf course
wondering how interest rates will bear the market
and the market is bleeding
the bodies pile up trades considered trades made
all aboard consider how the train is scheduled the deal is brokered
consider how wal-mart marvels at its own wonder
consider how it plucks lilies from the field
they just walk right up
say please pluck me I have nothing I will work inside that barbed wire camp I don't need Eichmann's train
consider profit margins
consider the suboptimal agents of the field
consider the suboptimal agents considering their children considering the exchange of horrors
consider the optimal agents counting in billions
consider the optimal agents considering who to hire to consider who to hire to manage their yachts at their various estates and how to keep cousin Jim from pleading for a few dollars
consider how they end up there
consider that by they I mean the lilies how they end up where in the labor camps in a system of slavery enslavement of the willing
consider who shall suffer for her children
consider this
consider this my pit bull
consider this my next word
consider words directly
consider the people who speak them
consider the
consider lilies
consider of
consider the materials of our exchange
consider how it is your world is mediated
consider whose world
consider it may be no one's field and no one's lily
consider your worldly needs and the fences thereof
consider the field not a sermon and the lily not an omen
consider the lilies of the field