The Grid

You can take that off line
But not off the grid
There’s no dropping out
You can’t drop a stitch
You have to be visible
Accessible, be heard
And when you speak be crisp
As crackly as a potato chip
Each word you say
Must snap its way
Into the consciousness
Of the apathetic
Instigate action
Inspire change
The change of each cog
To mesh with the magneto
That spins the grand combine
Which turns the great wheel
That moves the giant mower
To whack ripe opportunities
Into the high hopper
Which feeds the machine
The insatiable vacuum
That never loses suction
When vulnerable, succulent souls
Are so sweet for the taking

The grid
The long leash
The internet satellite signal
Lo-jack chip behind the ear
Just beneath the scalp
Setting alpha brain waves out of phase
To control the impulse
Weaken the will
Enable the “reach out
And jump through our ass, give up your life
Forsake family and friends
To satisfy a customer”
With no face or feelings or purpose
Other than to ensure your every thought
Is consumed with anxiety
And concern over how to bring in
Another two million delectable morsels
Of gross margin
To fatten the bottom line
Of the machine

The queen machine
The god machine
The “our purpose serves the greater good”
Far beyond picayune personal proclivities
To procure a pusillanimous pittance
A pauper’s puny perfidy
Our goal is to make the magnanimous
Mother machine
Crank out cookie-cutter encryptions
Devoid of character
Motivated to mollify the moods
Of the machine

There is the mystery
The code un-cracked
That we would succumb
To such subjugation and slavery
Ever wired to the grid
Shamefully submitted to such stark disclosure
Of all that we hope and are
For fear that the mindless motions
Of the monster magneto
Somehow spins with greater speed
Than our simple insignificant aspirations
Or primal human needs

Copyright 2007 Michael Clay

(added 08.21.09)

The Fall of Sumer

“For want of a placeholder
This civilization shall fall”
* SSOF, 21st Century

We can’t feed another digit
To the maw of the machine
It just won’t take it
So what, if the customer
Wants only one extra feature
Without that placeholder
The customer can take what we have
Because we can’t force it
Though we tried and tried
There was weeping and gnashing of teeth

No placeholder
And the system won’t recognize the request
The Standard Of Work can access no document
Because the system had no Process Of Record
By which to execute an idea
A desire for something more
There is no placeholder for more

And for want of that
The forecast is missed
The operating plan falls short
The people are scattered
And so on and so on

All we have of the Sumerians
Are some crumbled foundations
Sunk in centuries of sand
And a pile of clay tablets
With records and records
Of business transactions
Cuneiform scratchings
For the counting of cattle
And bushels of wheat
And clusters of figs
So many markings
To count to the highest number
Impeded by a scarcity of clay

They didn’t get “zero”
They couldn’t squeeze a large number
Into a smaller space
They just spread out
‘Til the desert couldn’t sustain them
Leaving us their legacy –
Lack of vision
Only eyes for the horizon
In this desert now

For want of a placeholder

Copyright 2008 Michael Clay

(added 08.21.09)

Whip Snap

Whip snap the set trap
Trying to catch those bees
Thinking about my flabby physique
I ought to quit smoking and drinking . . .
Well, maybe smoking
I ought to work out more
Learn to grow vegetables on my roof deck
Learn to dig those furrows with a double-barrel
Because there’s more to repel than grackles and crows

And I’ll have to pollinate my buds with cue tips
Which I’ll have to fabricate from dandelion fuzz
Or something else, like old fiberglass insulation
Because there won’t be anymore dandelions
Or bees to pollinate them
So, I’ll have to get into shape for that

Others will be in shape
They’ll be muscling flat screen TVs
From uptown high rises to take along
To some other, better place
Where there won’t be electricity
But plenty of plutonium slag heaps to plug into

No place for pride or greed
Or credit card wet dream
Instant gratification
We’ll have to work hard
For every little thing
Like picking the fiberglass filaments
From old insulation
To make cue tips
To pollinate our tomato blossoms

Because by then
We will be
The only bees
There are

Copyright 2008 Michael Clay

(featured in the poetry forum 08.21.09)

Jindai Ji
(Deep Great Temple)

Bamboo forests, node by node
Growing, pushing upward
Bearing the weight
Under which we stroll, oblivious
To the centuries that have passed below
Such a soft green canopy

Illusory, iridescent blue
Butterfly, weaving, passing through
Leading us on a pilgrimage
The deep great haven
Sanctuary

Renovation
Restoration of the old
Unnoticed
Minor ripple in the pond
Beside orange, white, red carp
Generations old, ignorant
Of here today
When always has been now

Monday afternoon

- MH Clay © 2002

(added 06.19.09)

Youte
(Anse LaRaye, St. Lucia
A Friday night in June, 2002)

“Sick Youte!
Wicked Youte!”

Through these streets
Youte runs
Youte of the Friday nights
Youte of the street parties
The islanders move late
Move into the night

In the disco, lights are flashing
Rastas pulse to the reggae, country beat
Vacillating, syncopating
Rhythm and color spill into the street

Where sounds and smells
Attack the senses
Lobster, shrimp, seafood all
Life is consumed here
In great, gulping mouthfuls

There stands Augustine Raspar
Spouting wisdom for any to hear
“I make everyone dance!”
He laughs, “Because you never know.
So, live fast and quit!”
Amen

There stands the church
Graveyard full of those who danced
Youte grins a skeleton grin
He towers far above the town
Grinning down
Below him, pulsing mad and fast
Rastas, lobsters, island women
Sleek and brown
White-skinned tourists

The music rises
Engulfing all in a flood
Youte moves through the crowd
Taps each reveler on the shoulder
And leads a long conga line
Down to the shore
Skeleton grin
Until everyone is smiling

“Sick Youte!
Wicked Youte!”

- MH Clay © 2002

(featured in the poetry forum 06.19.09)

Buddha’s Teeth

The Buddha smiles
Thirty-two pearlies
Gleaming white

He is so far beyond
We cannot see
Such blinding light

And ancient princess
Set in motion
The obvious outcome
Of her devotion

So drawn to him
So captivated
His teeth
She prestidigitated

And placed within
A holy shrine
A silver door
She locked behind

The faithful come
The stone is polished
By devoted knees

The chants resound
Entreating Buddha
“Nirvana, please!”

Buddha had a great idea
“Just change the way
you think,” he said

His misguided followers
Made him into
God instead

-

Years went on
The message changed
The great idea
Was rearranged

How odd to see
It’s not the same
Marred by our whisper
‘Round the circle game

And so it goes
The Buddha muses
When all is one
Nobody loses

Think or pray
The wheel will turn
All the while

Gleaming white
Thirty-two pearlies
Buddha smiles

- MH Clay © 2002

(added 06.19.09)

Hey, Walt!

Main Street Disneyland
Technicolor cartoon fairytale perfection
Evil always thwarted, endings always happy
The streets were clean
The French Quarter more festive than Bourbon Street
It was wholesome
Those darkies clappin’ spoons and tap dancin’
With wide ivory smiles
“Thank You, Mr. Disney!” they’d say
It made our white hearts proud

But now the streets are filled with trash
The paints jobs bleached and peeling
Bird shit on the fence rails
Cracked glass windows
What happened, Walt?

You promised us every Sunday night
How perfect it would be
But now look!
Cigarette butts, rancid beer piss reeking from
The back corners of Frontierland
And no more darkies
Or buffoon sergeants Garcia cumerbunds
For Zorro’s white “Z”
To make us feel our whitest best
No savage Indians in feather dress
And so much trash

No more the impression, the empty deception
That perfection is perpetually sustainable
Only the rolling balls of paper and waste
Cuz’ there just no one left

No jive-boy
Jimbo
“We’ll white wash’em tasteful
so we can devour ‘em”
Under privileged
Gratefully tap dancin’ darkies
To sweep up

- MH Clay © 2008

(featured in the poetry forum 07.17.08)

Pentecostal Pastel

Pale blue leisure suit
White dress white shoes
Polyester beige and brown houndstooth
Platform shoes
The preacher’s suit
Is jet black
To best offset his diamond pinky-ring
An accusing eye
Which exposes our envy and our greed

We will go forth at altar call
Our weekly repentance
From our lives of dissipation and excess
Our idle amusements bible study talk and talk
Eat cake drink milk talk more
We’re overcome and Spirit filled
The secret language God’s converse
From our sinner’s lips is spilled
“see my tie”
The sisters praise
Loud Hallelujahs with arms upraised
“a ree bo bo”
We stammer so
Little babes with clumsy tongues
We stutter and we hum

All the elders raise their hands
To thank their dogma and their god
Their replication of generations
Of stand up sit down
Jericho marchin’ the chapel round
To trap our evil lusty demons
‘Til the walls crumble
In our jabberin’ jumble of noise

Who can stand
As He did stand?
Why, none of us can
But it’s OK now, how can we be?
Tall as strong as divine as He?
Not one
No matter
Just speak and bleat
And keep up the patter
To be exempt

Even donkeys, dumb asses
With braying mouths
Have uttered sounds which qualified
As God talkin’ to Himself

“see my tie
A repo bo
A repo see my tie”

Oh, my

- MH Clay © 2008

(added 07.09.08)

My People

My people are something special
I identify with my people
My people get me
I am somebody with my people

My people is how I cope with insecurity
You may be something, but not to my people
My people keep me once removed
I’m insulated by my people
My people is how I put you in your place
You may have clout, but not with my people

My people will work it out with your people
Superior by far are my people
My mentioning your people is just my concession
I am being polite
But I mean to have my way
My people ensure that I will
I am guaranteed success by my people

I don’t have to take risks
I don’t have to be vulnerable
I don’t have to look at you
I don’t have to let you look at me
I don’t have to stand on my own merit
I don’t have to think about acceptance without merit
I don’t have to
My people love me

And you are not my people

- MH Clay

Drone

I’m a drone
I’m here to fuck the queen
And die
I defy my insect destiny
I will not drone
I will chrysalize
I will complete the change
From worm to butterfly

Behind my myriad eye
My soul is that of a butterfly
But, you can’t see me
You’re caught up with the challenge
Of so many mirrors
In which to admire yourself
You can never see beyond yourself

You’re the drone
Not I
You can fuck the queen and die
Not I

(By the way, the queen told me
You have a little honeybee dick
And you always come too soon)

- MH Clay

Postcard

Our sunshine turns the air orange
We wheeze and grin
And take it all in
We’re fighting over apples
In the produce section
We’re roasting
Beneath the sun’s convection
We’re melting on concrete
Wish you were here

We’re scrambling for sustenance
Bony, brain dead children
Are eating dust
And shitting blood
Our ground is saturated
By the floods
We’re surrounded by decrepitude
And rust
Wish you were here

We’re pushing through it
Bringing joy and angst to it
Yes, it sucks
But we make the ducks
Which trim the tops of our Mohawks
We’re strong together
We’ve learned to absorb the shocks
Wish you were here

We’re wondering about the reckoning
The penalty for heeding the beckoning
Seeing the wonder
Consuming the plunder
We’re pondering the question
“How?” and “Why?”
And submitting our suggestion
Couldn’t it be different?
Couldn’t there be change?
Would that be too dissident
Too alien and strange?
We’d like to talk it over
A path to walk it over
Wish you were here

We feel the pain, we hear it
The children giving up the spirit
The humiliation, the shame
The crying of shattered souls
The passing of fathers
The filling of holes
The struggle to make sense
Of the silence and perceived indifference
We need to bear that
Someone to share that
Wish you were here

- MH Clay

Tweak

If you don’t like’em
If presentation or context falters
If you don’t like’em
How their drivel your good mood alters
Don’t endure’em
Tweak’em

Take out your tool
Your wisdom for the fool
Turn’em clockwise or counter
Command the encounter
Forcefully direct their gaze
To take in the other view
A different from their mother view
Tweak’em
Bespeak’em
Stick your fingers in the dike
To stop the leak’em
Tweak’em

But, when I’m feelin’ bleak
When too tired or dumb to speak
I need a higher plane to seek
Baby, help me
I need atwaek
Roll out your love to meet me
Soften the blows that beat me
Batter my balance and unseat me

I would rather lie down
My anxieties tie down
I would fly down
And up and ‘round
‘Til you wire up and freak me
Baby, help me
Tweak me with your love
Tweak me with a shove
Over the brink
Into the drink
Heels over head and back from the dead
I love you baby, tweak me
With your love
Tweak me with your love

Tweak me
Tweak me
Tweak me

- MH Clay

Deconstructing Pettiness

When they knock you down
And step on you
Say those things that demean
And deflate
Do those things that undermine
Upset your self-confidence
Whack a hole in your sails

You think of them
With skin peeled back
To expose a puny brain
An undersized heart
Yeah, when they’re exposed
Their duplicity and arrogance
Will be made plain to all

That’s the way it should be
Make them see themselves
Maybe then they’ll learn

Yeah
It never works that way
They step on us, from me to you
To higher planes
Near the top
Making their plans
That don’t include us
Behind and forgotten

Aw, shit!
This is maudlin
And morose

I see the same thing
In my mirror sometimes

‘Til I walk around a bit
In everyone else’s shoes
Listen to their stories

Damn!
Even those assholes have their fears

- MH Clay

Clouds

Wrap words around vision
Feelings, tangible happenings
Liberated doves, flapping boisterously upward
Into such a sky
Rushing to freedom

Unlocked
The door of my bone chamber
Creaks open to reveal long horizons
A whole life, a thrilling tangle
Of past and fantasy

Propriety would dole out tools
To dissect, separate the two
Splayed, naked under stark light
Reward those who will denounce
Ally with the one, accuse the other
Grow up, mature, denounce

While I run back into the mass
A child again
Racing, reveling
Laughing out loud at the wonderful sensation
That comes with a two-armed
Grasping embrace of clouds

- MH Clay

Old Generals

He remembers the glory
The triumphs
He speaks of camaraderie unparalleled
He is a caricature, a cliché
The young soldier sees the battle
Up close and bloody
His buddies die around him
Splattered unrecognizable
They are traumatized
And also, are a cliché

The reason is gone
The need for reason, gone
The story is predictable
Each life the same

Old battlefields, national monuments
Young soldiers on leave,
Fresh from new battlefields, still wet with blood,
Stand and look at empty fields
But can hear the cries and explosions
Old generals bring wreaths
Wear medals and sashes
Long deaf to those cries
Long blind to the smoke and still, finally still, bodies
Long bored with the thrill of conquest
Calloused to the moral dilemma
The hard choices –
These young lives
For all those others
The greater good
For this small evil
No purpose is so great, anymore

But young soldiers look for leaders
Someone to follow
To articulate and emote
Only old generals
Wooden icons
To fuel the great ideal

The old generals
Are no longer enamored by any
For them it’s all the same
Bloodshed, glory
No matter, no consequence
Only the haunting of old decisions
Gone wrong
History written
From which no one will learn

The old general looks upon the memorial field
And is embarrassed to catch himself
Indulging in such adolescent fatalism

It’s full circle
In the end, it’s only a green field
Fertilized with old bones
Mulch for the trees

- MH Clay