CAConrad


Amber Zoom Lens
There Is (There
Is Not) Confusion


if i
die old
they can't
say God
punished me

or is Hell
the punishment?
hard to keep
the threats straight

tomorrow i'll
climb into
the cellar of the
burned down house
there's always one
more thing
shiny
buried
deep
inside

today being angry
my tax dollars
purchased bullets
not books

we
reach the trains
pushing and
running
to find
plenty of seats
plenty of time

when my friends
are in pain
i cry with them
but not
with strangers

are there not
enough tears?

it's
exhausting
imagining
tears refusing
the job

what was the
song my father
hummed to save
his mind in the
cardboard
box factory?

no
let's not remember

so much to forget
to relax
to sleep better

you want to forget
what you did
to me
go ahead i understand
i will want to forget
what i will do
to you one day

after a
little while
nothing's as clean
as new

crying with friends
is clean
ignoring strangers is
nothing but
layers of
stain

did your hamburger
have feelings?

does my question
annoy you?

well here's another

do you always
embrace torture
and murder with
pickles and sauce?

"it's better
than nothing" is
no comfort with
nothing
close
at hand

the house is
emptied by
fire one
night

the train still
takes you there
dinner
cocktails
hungry and
thirsty it's
strange what
we expect
from no
one home

every morning
is not like
every morning

this morning
as much
light as
possible
sitting
right
in
it



CAConrad's childhood included selling cut flowers along the highway for his mother and helping her shoplift. He escaped to Philadelphia the first chance he got, where he lives and writes today with the PhillySound poets. Soft Skull Press recently published his book Deviant Propulsion. He has two forthcoming books, The Frank Poems (Jargon Society), and advanced ELVIS course (Buck Downs Books). He recently co-authored The B. Franklin Basement Tapes with Frank Sherlock for NEXUS Gallery in Philadelphia.

More information on his books can be found here

For correspondence, please write to CAConrad13@AOL.com.

 
 
 
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