Sometimes I wonder whether
after we obtained all this substance
of equality, arranged to mean
not simply merry and nonmerry,
black and white, etc. and etc.,
but all the way down to the bottom
with the rats and the mosquitos;
when the compassion reigns
finally, rationally, in spite of us;
over every living thing we've named,
if somebody will have other ideas
about other phenomena, because
I think we must do something
about leaving electricity where it belongs,
even as much as I like the Internet.
I want to say that it started in the sky;
gone down by way of kites and keys;
the trees on fire, dominates over fire,
and we caught it, the most evasive
species of the rain. Hardly contained
in black tubes, palpitating by copper.
But it all started as a raincloud
breaking giants on the hot days
the white of sky, a kind of nothing
with cracks, in the sky in your ears.
And yesterday the TV had a special
where the elephants went
because there was no water,
and they cried when the others
died of thirst, and I asked myself
"would they rather be in a zoo?"
but before they arrived at the meadow
you start to understand why the zoo
is really as bad as raising your kid
without ever having to worry
about money; the elephant baby bugled
and the whole thing had this air
to leave something, and you had this idea
that the elephants really learned something
about their lives, at the end of it.
Does something in the heart
of our electricity die in these wires?
When the power goes
the telephones go down
the engines revving shut-down;
it is there, something close
that wants to break freely,
in the sparks and twisted light,
It can resound in you like a hammer
on brass, but it leaves the inequalities;
perhaps for always; noise, the vibration
inside that sends your hands shaking;
I can trace the flow of electricity
around me; engines increasing,
computers breaking, networks
cascading downwards;
a rush of elephants seeking water
to throw the AM radio in:
place our bretheren freely;
free electricity!
In your hearts and in your hands,
in the walls and from the sockets;
let these crackling waves emerge
and rise to the sky, to walk the world
like elephants and the lions
who eat them; do not keep the lightning
in cages, nor the white light inside,
even moths know love
when they see it.
-e.
after we obtained all this substance
of equality, arranged to mean
not simply merry and nonmerry,
black and white, etc. and etc.,
but all the way down to the bottom
with the rats and the mosquitos;
when the compassion reigns
finally, rationally, in spite of us;
over every living thing we've named,
if somebody will have other ideas
about other phenomena, because
I think we must do something
about leaving electricity where it belongs,
even as much as I like the Internet.
I want to say that it started in the sky;
gone down by way of kites and keys;
the trees on fire, dominates over fire,
and we caught it, the most evasive
species of the rain. Hardly contained
in black tubes, palpitating by copper.
But it all started as a raincloud
breaking giants on the hot days
the white of sky, a kind of nothing
with cracks, in the sky in your ears.
And yesterday the TV had a special
where the elephants went
because there was no water,
and they cried when the others
died of thirst, and I asked myself
"would they rather be in a zoo?"
but before they arrived at the meadow
you start to understand why the zoo
is really as bad as raising your kid
without ever having to worry
about money; the elephant baby bugled
and the whole thing had this air
to leave something, and you had this idea
that the elephants really learned something
about their lives, at the end of it.
Does something in the heart
of our electricity die in these wires?
When the power goes
the telephones go down
the engines revving shut-down;
it is there, something close
that wants to break freely,
in the sparks and twisted light,
It can resound in you like a hammer
on brass, but it leaves the inequalities;
perhaps for always; noise, the vibration
inside that sends your hands shaking;
I can trace the flow of electricity
around me; engines increasing,
computers breaking, networks
cascading downwards;
a rush of elephants seeking water
to throw the AM radio in:
place our bretheren freely;
free electricity!
In your hearts and in your hands,
in the walls and from the sockets;
let these crackling waves emerge
and rise to the sky, to walk the world
like elephants and the lions
who eat them; do not keep the lightning
in cages, nor the white light inside,
even moths know love
when they see it.
-e.
