Once Upon a Time Poems

Blackout

commentary in verse on 8/14/2003 Blackout and similar events



From Frankenstein factory, frightful,
the blackout, a hex carved out of carelessness,
a fleeting gust over unsheltered people
who crowded the streets, haunting the dawn,
with flesh defiled by lack of energy,
faces wrapped in slimy shock.

Once more we stood aside
to let the light slip away;
so now, in a dance of fury,
we gnash our teeth,
and growl, searching for the culprit,
like a beast running around in circles
inside its cage.

While feigned sobriety rages on,
sharpening its blades,
we cover our wounds with bandaids
and point fingers,
as dead weights of refusal to see our dark side
pin us down, we heave --spread-eagled--
under private politics, and look away from
unattended paths of premonitions.

If we only knew how to protect our dreams!