:: Dana Teen Lomax



five poems from NOTE



ONE


witness

red ink circles the word

fetus forms with or without panic

up 11 degrees this millennium

keys to release the cuffs

species count down

pie in the face

golden handshake

to skin catfish nail the head to a treetrunk and peel downward

as if any act were singular



TWO
(for Sally Hemings)


the perfect breakfast tip

worthy of collection

Jefferson into action in the age of the clone

the slave´s own story (lips parted/pressed)

1 + 1 = got everyone talking again

"I saved a two dollar bill in my wallet for the longest time then used it to buy candy"

a kooky cohesion

man suddenly on the moon

dual priority                I and Thou

one in each hand



TEN


she cups the cocktail glass and talks of working in prison. sensationalism fans the fire.

not bars or shackles, but keys and points and a square alarm and questions of familiarity.

out of bounds 115. loss of privileges. pen as fashion. improbable. institutional.

everyone wants to know what so and so did. pointing. another says it´s exploiting their

labor. feeding into the system. white liberalism and so on. racial profiling. huge self-

serving business machine. what are the politics surrounding your work. what would

efficacy mean to you. meanwhile, in the city they´re writing for the revolution. trickle

down theory. walking between blue lines. or adamantly outside. the same path. what kind

of outreach would be necessary. a man stands lifts his three fingered hand and says, I was

born this way--it wasn´t an accident. zeroed in on the difference he´s sure this makes.



TWENTY


full on: a Borax Mule Team

swan song of the faked I.D.

in between need and want

more is more abundances

in the star field of the flag

count down doubled over

all digits with piggies

new low-vision features

privileged          ignoranced

now commonly dispensed



FIFTY


odd toed animal with deep pocket$ in their mouth$ cha ching $trange fungu$ among u$ well

in$ulated from $ea$ of animo$ity what American$ need to know totally bizarre $tructure keep

the nail$ painted on account a the $hame all life a breathing $phere centerfold greeted with

$u$picion artifice & prized number a $tate$man´$ $alary almanac of accompli$hment$ each

with it$ own motto complicit rhetoric about the $upernatural wealth of knowledge with a hole

in the knee meeting of the grand noble$ the $u$pen$e i$ in the death toll$ in plain $imple

Engli$h the Coke machine ate my quarter the wine piquet p$haw wall$ and window$ without

much white $pace heroine v$ heire$$ $un$hower top down pyramid $cheme $erie$ of

catapult$ and pullie$ poli$h and glitter what´$ left in and out of the package $afe bet what can

art really do what doe$ it matter, if we can´t breathe? Geronimo Eureka exact change




© Dana Teen Lomax 2004





bio
process note
sõnaweb contents