Dorothea Lasky
MY LOVE OF HUMANITY IS PARAMOUNT
Sun on the shadows,
even dirty birds are nice when they brush up against you
Like the pigeons in
the park when they come whirling at you they are nice
To feel their wings
and necks against you, like wind only better
Because they are
living
Grey birds because
they are dirty
With city soot, the
smokestacks
Of living in a sour
time, the way that we breathe so
In every city legend
we work
Too fast to be part
machine but only part of it
That we are machines
only in that we are not birds
I am part of this
world but I am not
Of this time and
place, when you look at me
You can see it in my
eyes that I am not
What you thought I was
and when you stand next to me
You will feel my aura
is not the aura of this time but a timeless time
That is always new
because it is water and air
And when I speak, it
is a new voice but it is not a new voice
No, it is an old one,
no it is present so
That you find yourself
in love with me
Well who could blame
you, I canÕt stop you
From loving a ghost of
yourself that was willing to speak
Of living things that
you so readily had forgotten when you yourself so was so living so living so
that you forgot how to breathe and you died
I will not let you
die, no
So there are ghosts
that are not me but that I am a reflection of
In that I am living,
water, and air, part lime in that I am a woman
But I am not a woman
so much so that I am air
And air that breathes
through you giving you a home that I will never take away
I will never take this
home away, soft bed that is my voice
And hot chili in the
dinner I make for you
You have come back
from working all day with coal and ice
Come back, I will take
you back to what you once knew
MY LOVE OF HUMANITY IS
PARAMOUNT
The more I fly, the
more I have developed a fear of flying
I have learned too
That the key to being
humble
Is to use your powers
for good
Red koala eats the
trees, but it is to make him big
For example,
everything either has power or it doesnÕt
That is not the point
The point is I could
kill you if I wanted to
But I donÕt want to
I want to love you,
little son
In my arms, arms of
honey
The koala eats, he is
big,
But it is to protect
you that he is big, red koala
I say things loud but
they are to protect you
Cause sometimes you
canÕt say what you want to
So I sum you up
I speak loud, over
you, but it is not to hear myself speak
It is to make sure
that when I die I have said everything you needed to say so that you never die
I donÕt want you to
die, little son
I want you to grow big
and strong
When my dad got
AlzheimerÕs all the plants died
In the nursing home
there are no plants
There is nothing to
live for
Dogs circle the pink
painted building
The orderly staff
waits with the bleach
Asking me where the
diapers are, I do not know
I havenÕt had a love
in a very long time, a true love
One that makes you
feel all jiggly inside
I havenÕt felt all
jiggly inside since I donÕt know when
Still I will not go to
work in a factory for machines
Art may want to be
mechanized but I am not going to let it Goddamn it
Not gonna let it all
be steel driver without my fist
Even the dead plants
whisper to me to feed them
I feed them, the
rabbits, and the dogs
I feel the babies
bread toast, they are bald and wild
And strung out on
life, the little igloos
Of their heads only
cold when you think of all the possibilities of love like waiting
I am not what I once
was, but who would want to be
Who would want to be
the same throughout a life, read the same books
Drink the same tea,
wear the same dress, go to the same movies
Oh how I would cry at
the same man bent over the same actress in the same dark suit
Someone has died in
that movie
O I have seen that one
before