Recycle Bin... poetry in progress ©2001

Recycle Bin... poetry in progress ©2001 is a book of pre-911 poetry written during my journey from Lexington KY to Damascus MD and then downtown Baltimore MD. The voice in Recycle Bin is intended to be conversational but not quite spoken word. The following is an edited excerpt titled vision was written in the summer of 2000 right after I moved to MD.

vision

the days pass
one by one
blending into weeks that pass in the same fashion
and not much changes around here
except maybe the weather.

i sit on the steps
and smoke
watch some tube
work and sleep
and eat too much
like i'm trying to fill a hole
that i subconsciously ignore.

i pay the bills
that come in the mail
drink a beer
once in a while
and sit at my desk
stroking the keys-
the keys to my soul.

and the days keep melting
into one another
and sometimes i forget
what is real.

i work quite a bit
twelve hours a day
but the numbers in my bank account stay the same
(less this week
a little more the next)

and the keys
they don't change too much either.

they feel a little greasier tonight than most.

i call my parents quite a bit
(the news is rarely new)
yet our conversation
is richer than ever before -
especially with my father
with whom i've had many a difference in the past.

sure...
life has served spicier dishes
but the time for me
is good.

i have a vision
of a man now.

a man that i can be
the boy that i am
and the link of a very long chain
that will eventually connect us
in this continuous universe
of melting days.