some of these guys have
true believer in their eyes
wide with peyote fascination
never doubting
and no less fanatic than
the fringe on the right
I like my thought critical
served up with a side of skepticism
and informed
not glazed over with the passion
of someone else's truth
scribbled down long hallways and
plastered over catwalk panels and
pasted on transformer boxes and
graffiti'd on subway trains
screaming behind me
flickering lights through the wise windows
whisper never stop searching for the
right of it because just when
you think it's in front of you
the babbling tongues of white-skulled pundits
lick it clean and leave it
shivering in the brittle air of
Times Square after everyone's
gone home
the look of the true believer
snug in black ski caps and thug tattoos
and wraparound shades
sharks that lead well-meaning sheep
on both sides
of the fence
crashing innocent timbers against
a fog-wreathed shoal
shattering truths on the reefs
truths
elusive and unconditionally
malleable
even those characters chipped in
stone wear away under the
loving caress of time

2003-04-30