THE JUXTAPOSITION OF JULY Originally published on 11/22/2017

If you are on your phone I suggest turning it 90 degrees. This poem contains a visual aspect as well.


Sun streaks stream down like
Heaven’s sweet kiss upon
The blacktop                   
                       -where the heat is seen.
 
So we travel along
And sit in our canoes
Singing sweet songs and
                                         -sweating all the sooner.
 
Where we laugh and play.
Where we dance and eat.                                              
Where we share and cry.
 
This pattern repeats.
           
On the fourth day
We celebrate our independence.
I celebrate our diversity
                                              -for it’s who we are.
 
Drink after drink.
Dance after dance.
Joke after joke.
 
This pattern repeats.
 
Sun streaks stream down like
Heaven’s sweet kiss
Upon the black tar
                                  -burning through my body.
 
My body: numb and weak.
My body: weak and -- irrevocable.
In a trance of sweet sedation-
                                                 situated-
                                                                   where my agony is
                                                                                                           -euphoric.
 
This pattern repeats.
 
So I travel along
As I sit in an Uber
Making meaningless manifestations
                                                                 -of my menial night
 
Where I sit and chat.
Where I sleep and ignore.                                             
Where I shame and cry.
 
This pattern repeats.
           
On the fourth day
                               -the following day
We celebrate our independence
I celebrate my entrapment
                                           -to the bodies
                                                                  -that take me
                                                                                         -over
                                                                                                    -and
                                                                                                                 -over
                                                                                                                               -again.
  
This pattern…