My Screams
BOYS’ TOYS
airplanes, trucks and cars
spaceships designed
  from mars
PLASTIC swords mimicking REALITY
electronic, robotic, remote
CONTROLLED laser gadgets
and What have you got on
  your HANDS???
dirt-bikes, skateboards,
stainless steel army switch-blades AND m-16’s
can’t get much more real
than THAT
fast cars, hard LIQUOR,
power, money and sex CONQUESTS
all from A GIRL who goes
  by the name of
pearl . . .
these are boys’ toys



Less Refined Filler
give me your jibberish
   your socks your throw-away
lives
or so the pyro lady might exclaim
   from her pedestal
   were she from the wasteland
like we are
tape recorders talking to tape recorders
   and the performance is
spectacular
just like the muppets and jesus
for fame makes for nonsense
   to make sense
and now i sit extracting
meaning from the mouths
of fools and
of myself



Mask
Wear the mask
  with the smile on the lips
And pretend everything’s fine
Believe the lie, ignore the truth
And don’t ask me any
Questions



about you
...and if i said
i wasn’t who you were
what would you say?
i can’t even be myself
[whoever that is]
how could i be
what you wanted?

go ahead
put me in a little box
on the little shelf
of your little mind
if you must
but keep your delusions
to yourself.
i have enough of my own
about you.
  multicultural
a swear word for the 90’s?

i am of a third culture
not white, not black/hispanic
[asian, in my case]
not quite
where is this third culture?
do we get our own island?
[scholarship forms are a challenge]

we don’t belong here
not where you’re either/or
i’m neither/nor
like tiger woods?
he’s chosen his own term
we’re all given terms
to belong...ethnically categorised

when i’m here, i’m not exactly this
when i’m there, i’m not truly that

multiculturalism
isn’t that another way
of saying
no true culture?



Sorry
What do you mean
  I can't use that word?
Just because it's not proper
What do you mean
  I can't talk about that?
Just because it's too taboo
I view the truth with
  objective eyes
No, I don't condone it all
But the truth is the
Truth people will find out
  anyway
Might as well learn the facts
Minus all the hate and ignorance
Oh, now I see your point
Sorry, I didn't realise you wanted
  the sighted not to see
And I didn't know you like to quiet
  disruptive people like
Me



Cope
Don’t think
This isn’t happening
Don’t think
This is for real
Close your eyes
  and be someplace else
It’ll be over soon
Just lie down and be still






The Midnight Menu