Zumwalt Poems Online

Posts tagged ‘Poem’

manic defensive

manic defensive

you increasingly tax yourself
draining resources
to protect against countries not yet on any map
increasing the deficit
inadvertently but effectively inhibiting productivity

you increasingly ask yourself
about potential dangers
unseen, unheard, and unimagined
escalating this monologue
extending your enclosure
inappropriately but efficiently prohibiting new activity

this enemy is inescapable
indefensible
inexhaustible

this enemy is indefinable
inexplainable
incomprehensible
indescribable

we watch where once was wonder
now
is preemptive concern
we watch where once was welcome
now
is just an overly aggressive strategy
to avoid getting irreparably burned

you build a war-head-woven, awkwardly weaponed wall that uses every available resource
to protect against inadvertent encroachment
or accidental contact

you endlessly engineer an increasingly entangled, enemy-engaging entrapment
that escalates every single skirmish into another world war.

this enemy is exactly
as you imagine

this enemy is kept alive
by every single missile that is manufactured for your future use

you say it’s time to end this all
either by self-destruction or surrender
you understand that victory is not a condition
only just the irreversible promise of more bloodshed yet to come

–Zumwalt (2011)

Category:

2011, M, Zumwalt

Tagged with:

Time

Time

Time is a concept
By which we can relate energy and space.
I’ll say it again,
Time is a concept
By which we can relate energy and space.
　
I don’t believe in time zones.
I don’t believe in time clocks.
I don’t believe in the World Time Server.
I don’t believe in timeshares.
I don’t believe in Daylight Savings Time.
I don’t believe in egg timers.
I don’t believe in timesheets.
I don’t believe in quality time.
I don’t believe in real time applications.
I don’t believe in Time Magazine.
I don’t believe in time outs.
I don’t believe in the New York Times.
I don’t believe in railway timetables.
I don’t believe in reunions in Times Square.
I don’t believe in triple overtimes.
I don’t believe in Time Travel.
I don’t believe in the end of time
I don’t beleive in the beginning of time
I don’t believe in Once Upon a Time!
　
I just believe in space,
space and energy.
And that’s reality.
　
The poem is over.
Not.

–Zumwalt

Category:

2011, T, Zumwalt

Tagged with:

They’ve Stripped the Forest for Babble

They’ve Stripped the Forest for Babble 


Reams and reams
             The black-ink symbols innundate
             Flooding consciousness with printed words
                                          that possess
             Definitions but know no meaning
Tectonics, 
      Aardvarks, 
            political history of Byzantine hydraulics.
                        Dewey decimal has run rampant
                        Chasing, haunting, even lurking
                                  in the restroom
                        Parasitically clinging to the walls
 Stark and blatant waste or frivolous gaud
                        Venus dies --
                                   --                                          
                                   --    nonsensical nausea                       
                        The ice-age is returning

— Zumwalt (1974)

Category:

1970s, Editor's Choice, T, Zumwalt

Tagged with:

Imperfect information

Imperfect information

You and I face off
with battleships on secret squares
sequentially taking pot shots wherever we choose.

A thin board separates our lines of sight
A thick carpet, underneath.

This is a sequential game
even when I attack out of turn
each and every move
is built on the one before.

Round after round
we proudly announce
a target square.

Sometimes we hit
Sometimes we miss
But never fail to attack.

Salvo, my friend
When you are most relaxed
and think all is calm waters.

As long as there are ships afloat
There will be missiles launched
across these now choppy seas.

Salvo, my friend
All shots at once
against our better judgment.

As long as there are missiles to launch
There will be ships targeted
aggravating these now choppy seas.

But once it is clear
there is some chance at sinking even one ship
We pull back,
bend the rules,
re-arrange our positions,
midway,
put some ships
in reserve,
deny any cease fire
and secretly fill out our battle reports.

-zumwalt (2011)

Category:

2011, I, Zumwalt

Tagged with:

the analysis of falling

the analysis of falling

when going down it pays to plan ahead
and calculate the moment of impact if there is going to be one at all.

It is not so good to remember how it started
or to speculate on how to stop.

the best thing to do is enjoy it.
and if you can’t enjoy it, make notes.

-zumwalt (1991)

Category:

1991, A, short poems, Zumwalt

Tagged with:

note

i look at a note I jotted down
a thought
a revelation
an expression of truth

I trace my fingers over the loops and bends
I cannot remember what I wrote
and I cannot read my writing

-zumwwalt (1991)

Category:

1991, N, short poems, Zumwalt

Tagged with:

plenty of structure

plenty of structure

repeat every action
            deftly
            neatly
            perfectly
until its actuality sinks --
deeply embedded into experience
making the way safe
for any other action

she felt so very much alone growing up
that she is uncertain she ever made it
she understood so little then
that she easily accepts false knowledge now
holding onto it more firmly than she has ever been held

the past
stumbles around
a
run-
down
down-
town                 disoriented
sometimes getting on a bus
only to be chased back into the street

not feeling safe and not far away
the present stays locked in an air conditioned hotel
facing the window
trying to recognize the homeless vagabond below

she thinks thinking will solve her problems
but doesn't want to think about it
she looks for a solution
where she can see it all
without ever having to look

backing away from the window
 driven by the unclear image that remains
   checking the doorknob as well as the latch
     present makes a promise
       that
         it's going to be the last time

-zumwalt (1991)

Category:

1990s, 1991, P, Zumwalt

Tagged with:

slabs of concrete

slabs of concrete


grab
pen
man

hold tight as might can

put the reigns in teeth of steel
in jaws of iron
neath mind of gold unmined

steer this silent steed sub-subway speed
over common ground
 which tread upon
   was forgotten
       remembered
and cast incautiously
     ... permanently?
     ... coherently?
such hunkish chunks of memory
         unevenly
into hand-picked 
     brick-thick 
     quick-hardening slabs of concrete

-zumwalt (1991)

Category:

1991, S, Zumwalt

Tagged with: