Submissions by mbass33 (matthew bass)

"You need to worry about
getting into a good school,
so you can find a good job,
so you can be successful,
so people will like you,
so you can be happy"

in an auditorium with
two adolescent bloody knees
stinging from the car exhaust
from the street in a neighborhood
unknown to a boy just getting over the fear
of taking a bus to an unfamiliar part of town
in a gritty part of the city.  A pretty Latina girl
adivises with a smile to not pick up the pennies thrown
at him on the bus stop when in an unfamiliar part of town...

STOP  
   
                                           TELLING    
   
   
ME        HOWStructures          
                           are     TO    
                           strAight jackets    
                           with    
   can you[not]     flower    
     SCREAM              AND      YELL    
                           lace.    
             think?

Darkness    
     
inside the womb.    
     
ego screams(at)    
     
the light    
from the four corners    
of mother.    
     
     
     
But we,    
pray to prey    
upon the altar    
of    
horsemen (4);    
     pink mists    
     splashing    
        through    
     huma(ss)nity,    
     the torn skin of children    
        and    
     blood debts.    
     
The candle we hold    
burns the hands    
of the thirsty...

Eu te amo
Te amo

Je t´aime
Et vull

Quérote
Te quiero

.....and still it never ends