driving becomes a directive to speak our minds [2011]

                        I scrawled     blindly
                        at a downward angle
                        across the page

I arrived early to
nearly fall down the stairs and
recognize the backs of
several familiar heads

from the safety of my altitude I
nursed an outlaw chai
and a precious solitude
while disregarding Taggart's Loop

and the lights went down

and I couldn't see a god-damned thing
let alone drive

  Ashbery and Armajani built a bridge
            but not Berryman's and
            something with no title was
            presented in prose poetry form

            someone said: "driving becomes a directive to speak our minds"

            also Laura (Riding) Jackson

            didn't write a dictionary and
            she had fine cooking utensils but
            no heat     and didn't finish

and the lights came up

and afterwards someone asked the opinion of
a dumb mute

                        I fumbled through my bag
                        trying to find a pen light but
                        was unsuccessful 

(apologies to Eric Lorberer and Barrett Watten)