words

in the shadow of ancestry
we lesser sentries huddle,
locked in paralytics
as formless terrors possess us,
anxious lions.

atonement far from attainment,
transforming daily with the sun,
chasing round its burning gaze
through a trail of sweat and repetition.

streams move through us,
bits of existence,
the wind of god,
and we awaken slowly,
sit up aware and afraid
generation after generation
cycling perpetual fear,
fear of the bomb
or global warming
or gays in the military,
blacks with voices,
women with power,
whatever the momentary resistance,
that heavy undercurrent of inhibiting master.

we learned the language of electromagnetism
and the slow crawl of knowledge
was overrun by Jerry Springer,
fat american pounds for dollars,
the consumption of animal rectum
in the most unholy display of humanity,
while continuously, endlessly
we push forth the genetic cosmonauts
into a future muddled
by the mess of our own shit and grime,
the erosion of the signal.

-S.C. Martinez