Carly Simon

It seems the spirit leaves you
when you become too smart
to start thinking for yourself.

Apparitions embodied by strangers,
stories and information come in
uninvited, perhaps a sign of a
higher power to tell you of worm holes
and the history of years and magic animals

and while the skin is seething with interest
and lust, the self cleaves and leaves you
waiting for all the days you remember the moment
like a simple photograph, a memory of a nice day.
a memory of young adult hormones that made you feel
like the world was bigger than everything that's been shoved
between your ears.

if you try real hard
you can hear the birds sing again
and if you try real hard
you can take note of the details.
but you're lying to yourself
so you slip back into arranging all the blocks
to make a shape or a structure you can stand on.

all you really want to do is get new blocks.

the fight against is as equally stupid
as the fight for.
there you go changing on me again.
there i go refusing to.


Everyone seems to be praying these days.
None of the people praying can figure out why.
"We have grown to such great numbers,"
said the lead praying man,
"that we can no longer account for the clarity of
our individual prayers.
Instead, the sound has grown into one collective pitch
resonating high into the heavens.
Thus do no expect your individual prayers to be answered,
but instead a universal one."
When the people heard of this misfortune,
there was a deep sadness throughout the world.

kim krans
i am not a shrinking violet