apple on a Monday.

fiona ate an apple

on the way home

from school on a Monday

and you know what they say

Mondays are the worst days

children don't get to play

they don't get their way

and they have no say

so when fiona's apple fell away

she was taken

feet off the ground

she was taken

head to the ground

she was taken

pound by pound

she was taken

to lost and found

Mondays are the worst days

and children have no say

they don't get their way

they don't get to play

fiona tried to scream

through the hand that held

her mouth and hand

fiona tried to claw

through the weighty world

to the surface of air

fiona tried to close shut

the door to her soul

and pinned some fingers

on the way

fiona tried kicking the key away

but her lock was jammed

and her window crashed

fiona tried to fix her home

but her pipe began to clog

and fiona began to burst

fiona

Mondays are the worst

and fiona

they say

say no

don't say

say no

don't no

on the way home

fiona was in a bit of a bad way

bits and pieces of a bad day

fiona's voice slipped up the stairwell

then fell down the steps

fiona's voice ran through her spine

locked inside her head

fiona's voice waited and waited

for Monday to pass

read this aloud.

her oh ah 

talking of love

her slow slow

her young young

voice

voicing

the whispers between

two lovers thinking of

two lovers loving

two lovers together

on a bed

of snow

white

and dirt

dirtied

on a fair day unlike today,

a person would equal a person

and the flowers would open,

close and open

and she would open,

close and open

and the sounds are good

and clear and happy

like they always are

on fair days unlike today.

but today we teeter totter

on the seesaw seeing sawing

and you are always on top

and i always below:

somehow i am heavier

than all that you are,

darkness of a night

combined

second by second

by second and second...

her oh uh

talking of sex

her fast fast

her old old

wisp

whispering

the voices between

two strangers thinking of

two strangers estranging

two strangers apart

on a train

to no

where

and distance

distancing.

for my lady with the silky night words.

eating alone at the table behind

my friend there, he sits

with an invisible glow

hot on his face

hot from the laptop desktop

hot, it's hot today, 

it's hot.

orange stains under your nails

orange oils sprayed across your skin

orange you smell 

orange you eat

cold on a fake summer day

his warm hot mouth reserved

only for lunch and

silence at his table

behind my friend and me

next to a barred emergency door

no windows, no light

no fork clinking on his china plate

your hero is so quiet

but his voice is

(when he speaks)

the orange you eat,

the orange you smell

on paper

in air

can you breathe for me?

through his mouth

smoking with words

through his hand

that holds you

by your neck so stiff

tracing your ribs 

your ribs trying tried

to protect your heart

your heart

your heart

can you breathe for me?

the way the

the way the hamlet slowly dies

the way new hamlets slowly rise

ophelia, whatever happened

to that cross you wore?

and wherefore 

that love you bore?

could he have you 

given much more?

only this, and nothing more,

merely this and nothing more:

nevermore, nevermore,

my dear lenore!

with all due respect.

mom always told me 

black is black

white is white

and we are we.

see, i wish you hadn't said that.

i wish you hadn't said that.

and are we defined by colors in this world?

shades of dark and light, screaming

lighter, lighter! crooning

sun is good, tan is great

but only when you start out pale.

see, i wish you hadn't said that.

i wish you hadn't said that.

i don't want to talk about this,

this government and that government,

and this hero and that villain.

i don't want to talk about this,

this hunger and that pain, pain, 

and this rape and that injustice.

see, i wish you hadn't said that.

i wish you hadn't said that.

black power,

girl power,

flower power

and wind power.

oh, and nuclear power.

oh high heavens,

oh my god,

weapons of mass

of mass destruction.

money. give us the money. give

the money to us so we can help

help them, help them.

money. give us the money, now!

give us the money, down on your knees!

give us the money, down on your knees!

see, i wish you hadn't done that.

i wish you hadn't done that.

so, look at me. what do you think i am?

chinese?

japanese?

korean?

chinese?

japanese?

korean?

see, i wish you didn't do that.

i wish you didn't do that.

ching chong ching chong

the little boy said to me.

i think he was russian,

eastern european.

not exactly friend,

not exactly foe.

ching chong ching chong

the little boy said to me.

see, i wish you hadn't said that.

i wish you hadn't said that.

 

blacks bad.

whites okay.

asians best.

he doesn't know it

but dad is 

ethnocentricity at its finest,

racism at its worst.

see, i wish you wouldn't think that.

i wish you wouldn't think that.

said what?

you said what?

motherfucker, you did not just say that.

you son of a bitch, you son of a bitch, you bitch

you ching chong slanty-eyed devil negro nazi jew

you and your allah allah

you and your money

your power

your history books and dirty looks

you dirty gooks

danger, danger on a stick.

see, i wish we hadn't said that.

i wish we wouldn't do that.