UNDERSTAND PEOPLE

I am a cloud as in vague idea at breakfast I rise above the everyday panic at being alive like toast

in a modern toaster to try the day on for size / hands float up unannounced and vibrate the way

forward / I follow them around the clock inventing useful locutions for getting around town like /

can I have a ride in your car / which only works in the right context / like when the driver is your

friend so / the important thing / is to make new friends / when you need a ride / understand /

people are not basically good / they are social / ergo / people are at their worst / driving alone in

cars / they need help / they need friends / tell them / and wear a seatbelt / just being alive is too

important / as far as I can tell / everything you know depends on it /

LIMITED SUPPORT

the group said / try

to put yourself in another

person’s shoes / but the person

I picked was dead

and I got stuck / it’s how I learned

there are limits / even / to empathy / it’s true

guns / don’t kill people / they just

make killing people a lot faster so we can all

get on with life / more like sneezing / before

we had guns / killing generally required more

thought plus effort / the opposite of dead / life

is whatever keeps moving / past / where it should

be still / like star wars prequels / or new forewords

to second editions / if the whole group wants

to empathize with the dead / they had better

empathize with the dead / on videotapes / this frame /

this frame / this frame / is / is far too proximate

for all that