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Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Rio 1980 Looking down from one of many favellas (slums)

Postcard From Rio

Published: Chantarelle's Notebook (On Line) April 2011

                                              

                                                     MAGIC

Dusty candles stuck in cola bottlenecks along the curbsides
Flicker nervously against the evening traffic
Sea breeze flavored with the scent of ethanol exhaust and lipstick
Little altars set by fire plugs, street-side tree trunks
Doorway entrance steps and stop signs
Offer small protection.

Cigarettes are left
A bit of candy
Shiny coins . . . still new
Unspendable
Made worthless by spectacular inflation . . . time and place
Small offerings left for spirit gods displaced by fire and greed
Their forests gone forever
Forced to live upon the streets of Rio de Janeiro
With their people
Sleeping on the sidewalks
Homeless servants, petty thieves and whores

These ancient spirit gods are angry
They will have revenge.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Human Be In - 2 San Francisco 1967

Human Be In San Francisco 1967

The Bindery


Published: Blue Collar Review  Winter 2011

              The Bindery   First Night

Graveyard shift
Enthralled at first
In awe of this great space
The clatter of dark green machinery
Metropolis of movement
Long conveyor belts with snake-like curves
That rattle on ten thousand metal rollers
Forklifts
Printing presses
More than fifty employees
All of us moving at top speed.

At one of fourteen stations
I load paper into hoppers that are quickly emptied
Needing more
A warning buzzer sounds
Go faster . . . faster . . . pallet loads of pages.
Sweating on this concrete floor
Under the unforgiving grid of bare fluorescent lights
No mercy
Eight hours running back and forth
Between the pallets and the bins.

On my way home
At dawn
Thank God it's over
Ears are ringing
Pray I'm not too tired to sleep.